PORTLAND — Look for the Auburn Mall to sell.
For activity around the Bates Mill leading up to November’s casino vote.
And for development to pop at Lewiston’s Exit 80.
Chris Paszyc, a CB Richard Ellis/The Boulos Co. broker who specializes in the Twin Cities market, shared that 2011 forecast Thursday morning at the Maine Real Estate and Development Association’s Annual Real Estate Forecast Conference.
Speaking by phone afterward, Paszyc called 2010 “brisk, despite an uncertain economy” and anticipated a steady market in the year ahead.
“Certainly, your industrial market is comparatively better than the office market,” he said. “The office market, I think, has some challenges ahead of it in 2011. I think that landlords are going to need to get aggressive if they’re going to get deals.”
Want to rent that office space? With so much inventory, be prepared to drop the price.
In Paszyc’s forecast:
* Lots of action along the river.
“The important thing is, I think, we’ll see a number of real estate moves and opportunities develop (around Bates Mill) in anticipation of November’s vote,” he said. “I think we’ll see people auctioning properties around there and trying to get in position in the event something happens.”
With George Schott’s recent commitment to prep the land around Island Point, “we anticipate Schott and the city will develop something of high value on that site,” Paszyc said. Maybe a hotel, medical facility or office space.
* He said he counted a handful of retail deals in the Twin Cities in 2010, including the new McDonald’s gas station/restaurant on Minot Avenue. He believes one more of those is bound for the L-A market in the next year.
* The news wasn’t good for the apartment investment market, which he called “bouncing on the bottom,” with a lot of distressed inventory still to work through.
* The Auburn Mall, though, for sale at $27 million, will likely attract a buyer in 2011, “given the strong tenant mix, the recent new development deals that have happened there … and the shortage of quality product in the investment market.”
* Finally, a tease to “pretty big” news around turnpike space that Lewiston has looked to develop for years.
“We’re going to see something happen pretty big around Exit 80,” Paszyc said. “While I can’t go into details … we believe that something sizable, of large scale, will happen out in that area.”
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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