Real Estate News

Rumors still flying about the end result of P&C buyout

Jason Robie — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:41:24 +0000

Ask anyone in town these days, and you’re sure to get a different answer about the goings-on at P&C Foods. As our only full service (and full sized) grocery store in the Loon Mountain area, citizens and visitors alike are speculating about the fate of the local store. Tourists count on P&C for the purchase of their wares as they file into town. The local residents, opting against Shaw’s to the North or Hannaford to the south, rely on P&C for their everyday grocery items. There is no question, the absence of some sort of grocery store would leave a large gap in the town’s commercial offerings. Details on the acquisition are from NHBR:

N.Y. firm buys P&C Foods parent
Monday, February 1, 2010

Tops Friendly Markets, a full-service grocery retailer based in Williamsville, N.Y., has completed the court-approved acquisition of Syracuse, N.Y.-based Penn Traffic’s 79 supermarkets – including one in Lincoln, N.H.

Tops President and chief executive Frank Curci said all stores would remain open while the company evaluated them over the next 30 days.

Penn Traffic, which operates the store in Lincoln under the P&C Foods name, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in November 2009.

While both Tops and Penn Traffic have said the deal is still too new to consider which, if any, stores will close or when, or even if, there will be layoffs, filings to the Workforce Opportunity Council acting on behalf of the New Hampshire Department of Labor on Nov. 17 under the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act said as many as 40 employees at the Lincoln P&C Foods store could be affected.

The WARN Act stipulates that New Hampshire employers with 75 or more employees must “issue a warning before closing facilities or laying-off more than one-third of the workforce” within at least 60 days in advance of the closing or mass lay offs.

In 2008, Penn Traffic sold its wholesale business to C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc., which is based in Keene, N.H. –

CINDY KIBBE/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW

Renters taking advantage of higher inventories

Jason Robie — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:38:59 +0000

It seems that apartment renters are becoming more demanding in this environment of higher inventories and more competitive pricing. We have seen numerous of our Ski Season Rentals be negotiated to lower prices, shorter terms and adjusted amenities. Apartments.com offered the following insights:

Apartment Dwellers on the Move This Year
With apartments increasingly available, renters are more demanding than they used to be.
Here are some key issues that landlords should consider, according to Apartments.com, whose recent survey of renters showed that 60 percent of apartment dwellers intend to move in 2010.
Flexible leasing terms. Flexible terms ranging from month to month to two to 10 months to two years can satisfy residents willing to pay for the convenience.
Lifestyle-friendly services. Accepting dogs and even offering a dog-walking service, a fitness center and Internet availability are simple things that can keep tenants from moving.
Utilities included. Having electricity, phone, cable and Internet part of their rent appeals to many tenants.
Source: Apartments.com (01/19/20

Company gets tax credit for solar project

Jason Robie — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:30:55 +0000

By ASHLEY SMITH

Staff Writer / Nashua Telegraph

HUDSON – A Hudson company awarded more than $2 million in federal stimulus tax credits will use the money to make parts for concentrator photovoltaic systems, a type of system that turns sunlight into electricity.

Concentrator photovoltaic systems, made by Spire Semiconductor, which employs about 20 people at a facility in the town’s riverside industrial park, use tiny mirrors to collect more sunlight than traditional photovoltaic solar panels. The technology is fairly new and is still being commercialized.

The federal money was awarded Monday as part of a $2.3 billion stimulus program to boost clean energy manufacturing in the United States. It was divided among 183 projects in 43 states.

“Any time stimulus money comes into a high tech company in New Hampshire, we’ll applaud it,” said Fred Kocher, president of the New Hampshire High Technology Council. “The more we can develop a solar sector in the United States, that’s great.”

The energy tax credits are worth up to 30 percent of each planned project, suggesting that Spire plans to invest some $6.75 million of its own money into the project.

The White House said the tax credits will create thousands of job, but its unclear how many – if any – it will create in New Hampshire. Spire Chief Operating Officer Rodger LaFavre could not be reached for comment.

Spire Semiconductor is a division of Bedford, Mass.-based solar company Spire Corp. The company last made headlines in October by announcing that it would lease the extra space in its 90,000-square-foot Hudson facility to a South Korean company looking to establish a presence in the United States.

The company, Uni-Chem, is best known for selling leather to carmakers like Hyundai and luxury handbag companies Burberry and Coach, but is breaking into the solar business in anticipation of a U.S. solar market that is ready for growth.

Uni-Chem is spending about $40 million to set up equipment, create production lines and upgrade the Hudson facility’s infrastructure, and is expected to start production of solar cells and modules some time in the first half of this year. The move was expected to create some 150 high-paying manufacturing jobs.

To form its U.S. entity, Uni-Chem also agreed to buy 51 percent of Spire Corp. subsidiary Spire Solar Systems. Spire Semiconductor will share the space with Uni-Chem, continuing to occupy just a small portion of the 25 Sagamore Drive building.

Uni-Chem will be the second major solar manufacturing operation in Greater Nashua, behind Merrimack’s GT Solar, which has found success manufacturing furnaces and other products that are used to make solar wafers. GT Solar has seen rapid growth in the last few years, becoming New Hampshire’s first publicly-traded alternative energy company in 2008.

In a prepared statement released Monday, Spire COO Lafavre said the company is grateful to participate in the clean energy manufacturing tax credit program.

“This award displays the strong support for our highly efficient concentrator photovoltaic technology, and this will help us continue down the path of commercialization,” Lafavre said.

Concentrator photovoltaic systems concentrate sunlight onto photovoltaic cells through mirrors or lenses, producing more electricity per unit. The technology has been slower to reach the market due to engineering issues, particularly the need to control high temperatures that can damage the cells.

Ashley Smith can be reached at 594-6446 or asmith@nashuatelegraph.com.

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Home sales rose in state in 2009

Jason Robie — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:29:43 +0000

By ASHLEY SMITH Staff Writer

Nashua Telegraph

For the first time in five years, New Hampshire saw an increase in home sales in 2009, which may indicate the beginning of a slow rebound in the real estate market.

Residential home sales were 6 percent higher in 2009 than the year before, according to data released Monday by the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. A total of 10,832 homes sold last year, compared to 10,208 in 2008.

The $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit received some, but not all, of the credit for the increase.

“There are many factors that have gone into this increase in sales, from the tax credit to excellent interest rates to competitive prices,” NHAR President Monika McGillicuddy said in a statement. “Ultimately, we’re talking about an increase in confidence that I believe is at the core of sustainable momentum in the real estate market.”

Hillsborough County saw a slightly higher increase in sales at 7 percent for the year. A total of 2,947 homes sold in 2009, which is about 200 more than the year before.

The statewide increase is particularly surprising given a rough start to the year. January and February numbers were dismal, among the worst in recent memory. By November, things were looking much better. Home sales in that month alone were a whopping 70 percent higher than November of 2008.

“This was an incredible comeback,” said McGillicuddy, a 25-year veteran of the real estate industry and an agent with Prudential Verani in Londonderry. “Since spring, the market has taken off in a way that at that time we could have only hoped.”

Peter Francese, director of demographic forecasts with the New England Economic Partnership and a columnist for NHAR, echoed McGillicuddy’s optimism in the same prepared statement.

“The increase in 2009 sales was a huge achievement considering the near record depth of the Great Recession,” Francese said. “All signs point to a reasonably robust recovery this year and next.”

Despite the increase in sales, home prices continued to decline in 2009. The average sale price statewide was $212,000, down 9.8 percent from $235,000 in 2008. The average price peaked at $270,000 in 2005, the height of the real estate market.

In Hillsborough County, the average price was $229,900 last year, down from $248,000 in 2008. That average price was $290,000 at the height of the real estate boom.

Currently, prices statewide and in Hillsborough County are back to about 2002 levels.

The NHAR’s 2009 data also showed a slight increase in average days on the market to 135, up 2 percent from 133 in 2008. As of Jan. 6, there were 12,203 residential, condo and mobile home properties on the market in New Hampshire, which is the lowest number in about three years.

December numbers were an improvement over the year’s averages. There was a 17.4 percent increase in home sales statewide and only a 1.9 percent decrease in the average sale price.

Condo sales increased 31 percent in December, in the third straight month of gains. By year’s end, condo sales in New Hampshire were almost on par with 2008.

Ashley Smith can be reached at 594-6446 or asmith@nashuatelegraph.com.

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Analyst: Housing a Good Investment in 2010

Jason Robie — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:27:08 +0000

Forbes housing reporter and analyst Francesca Levy makes some thought-provoking predictions in the latest issue of the magazine.

She predicts:

Real estate will be an attractive investment strategy in 2010 with wealthy investors devoting an increasing segment of their portfolios to it.
Loan modifications will result in more people who should probably be facing foreclosure slipping deeper into debt.
Cities like Omaha, Neb., and Buffalo, N.Y., which avoided the housing bubble and most of the bust, will be models for cities trying to avoid another bubble.
Financial troubles in Dubai will ripple through the U.S. luxury market, creating energy in a market that has been stagnant.

Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (12/28/2009)
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Trends in Green Building and Living

Jason Robie — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:24:20 +0000

The Earth Advantage Institute, a non-profit that certifies sustainable homes, identified these green-building trends, based on its relationships with builders, architects, real estate practitioners, and lenders.

Smart grid and connected homes. The development of custom and Web-based display panels that show real-time home energy use, broken out by individual appliance will increasingly drive consumer behavior.
Energy labeling for homes and office buildings. Accurate energy rating systems for homes and office spaces will make it easier for home owners and buyers to compare and could galvanize owners to make needed energy improvements.
Building information modeling software. The increasing sophistication and lowered cost of CAD software with more accurate algorithms for energy modeling will encourage greater use.
Financial community buy-in to green building. Lenders and insurers will get behind green building because it’s good for their bottom lines.
"Rightsizing" of homes. A larger home no longer translates into greater equity.
Eco-districts. The creation of walkable, low-impact communities in the suburban setting is gaining steam.
Water conservation. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized the voluntary WaterSense specification for new homes in December of 2009, which reduces water use by about 20 percent compared to a conventional new home. Water will be the essential resource in the next decade.
Carbon Calculation. With buildings contributing roughly half the carbon emissions in the environment, the progressive elements in the building industry are looking at ways to document, measure, and reduce greenhouse gas creation in building materials and processes. This effort will be heightened once a federal cap-and-trade mechanism is launched in this country.
Net Zero Buildings. A net zero building is a building that generates more energy than it uses over the course of a year, as a result of relatively small size, extreme efficiencies and onsite renewable energy sources. We are close to being able to do this routinely.
Sustainable building education. This will create opportunities for professionals involved in the building industry, from real estate to finance and insurance.
Source: Earth Advantage Institute (01/08/2010)

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Windham workforce housing zone in flux

Jason Robie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:51:36 +0000

By Terry Date
tdate@eagletribune.com
The Eagle Tribute
WINDHAM — A residential zone taken out of a proposed workforce housing ordinance weeks ago has been returned to it and will be presented at a public hearing later this month.

The Planning Board returned residential Zone A, located near Cobbetts Pond, to the ordinance on Dec. 30. “There was no good reason to exclude A and not others,” Planning Board Chairman Phil LoChiatto said. LoChiatto also said there was concern that the board had excluded the zone late at night at the very end of its meeting Dec. 16 without a full airing. At that meeting, abutter Joe Faro and resident Alan Carpenter spoke in favor removing Zone A from the ordinance. The board returned the zone to the ordinance after hearing objections on Dec. 30 from Albert Aeed.

Aeed, who owns a home at 130 Range Road along with his brother Eric Aeed, said the exclusion would unfairly target Zone A. He proposed building 25 small, single-family workforce homes — each costing about $260,000 — on six acres in Zone A.

The ordinance covers residential Zones A, B and C, and the rural and the village district. The board did place some restrictions on workforce housing in Zone A. It allows single-family detached homes, but not duplexes or attached homes. The restriction would not affect Aeed’s proposal, called Austin Place.

Town Meeting voters will be asked to OK a workforce housing overlay district to comply with a state law. That law requires municipalities to make provisions allowing for workforce housing. LoChiatto said the maximum price of the housing in Windham would be in the mid-$260,000 range.

The Planning Board will host another public hearing on workforce housing Jan. 19, as well as hearings on small wind energy and school impact fees.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Community Development Department Meeting Room.

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Dover company looks to ‘green’ business

Jason Robie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:46:41 +0000

USDA awards startup with grant money

By Deborah Mcdermott

Seacoast Online
January 11, 2010 2:00 AM
As the debate about climate change heats up in the halls of Congress, one truth is emerging. If a “green” economy is going to thrive, it must be one that not only is better for the Earth, but makes the kind of financial sense that will keep the wheels of commerce greased.

Into this equation comes a small, Dover startup company, Itaconix. Now based in a small, nondescript brick building near an industrial park, the company is licensed to produce and distribute a sustainable polymer developed at the University of New Hampshire.

This sugar-based polymer is in the testing phase right now, but is expected to be used in detergents and as a green, absorbent alternative to the filling in disposable diapers.

“We don’t make green detergents. We allow the detergents that people buy to be greener,” said Yvon Durant. “And we don’t make green diapers; we allow a greener diaper.”

“There are different components to making these products. We’re a small speck, but an important speck — and a New Hampshire speck,” said John Shaw.

Durant and Shaw are the owners of Itaconix. Shaw has been launching new products for more than 20 years from his Hampton Falls company, Kensington Research. These have run the gamut from new technology to medical instrumentation and supplies.

Durant is a materials science research professor at UNH who actually developed the polymer, which has been patented by the university. The process begins with high fructose corn syrup. That syrup is used for many different products from beer to ethanol, said Shaw.

From this distillation comes itaconic (hence Itaconix) acid, an organic compound that serves as the basis for the polymer. In detergents, for instance, the polymer Durant developed is used as a dispersant.

“You know those ads that say this detergent makes your glasses sparkling clean?” said Shaw. “That’s what our product does. It gets rid of that white powder (residue).”

Right now, the compound in detergents that serves that function is an acrylic acid that is petroleum based.

In producing the polymer, Shaw said he and Durant also make “green” choices. There’s no wasted energy in the manufacturing process, which “is part of what we do to stay on the green path.” The material is in powdered form, not in water, so shipping costs are lower and delivery trucks use less fuel.

Most particularly for Shaw — who makes no bones about the fact that he’d rather back a successful non-green product than an unsuccessful green one — the cost to their customers is roughly the same as that of acrylic acid.

“Acrylic acid is fairly toxic. So it allows our customers to be greener at price that’s competitive,” he said.

A number of detergent manufacturers are testing the product right now, to see how it interacts with their own particular chemical “soup,” and they should be hearing back from the first of them in the next several months.

But the two would eventually like to wean the company from corn as the base for the polymer.

The United States Department of Agriculture has provided a financial incentive, as well, to stop using food-based sources for energy production.

Toward that end, Itaconix and the University of Maine in November received a $1.8 million grant from the USDA and United States Department of Energy. UMaine is using the research money to develop a method of extracting sugar from pulp wood.

“It’s still years down the road, but if it can be developed, it would be huge breakthrough,” Shaw said. “We have plenty of wood right here. If we can do this, we can say it was not only made in New Hampshire, it was manufactured in New Hampshire and Maine.”

To learn about Itaconix, visit www.itaconix.com.

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Oil recycling facility could bring 20 jobs to Rollinsford

Jason Robie — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:12:21 +0000

By Jason Claffey Fosters Daily Democrat
jclaffey@fosters.com
Friday, January 8, 2010
ROLLINSFORD — The Wentworth family, which owns a greenhouse business and large tracts of land in town, is planning on building a state-of-the-art oil recycling facility on Old Indigo Hill Road, according to town officials.

The facility, which would turn used oil into asphalt for commercial use, would be the only one of its kind in New England. It would create about 20 jobs — making it among the town’s biggest employers — and significantly contribute to the town’s property tax base, town officials said.

The project was approved by the Planning Board but still requires a building permit from the Board of Selectmen. Board Chairman Ed Jansen said a hearing on the permit will likely be held in the spring.

Jansen said he was excited about the project.

"It has several positive contributions to the community without putting significant demand on town resources," he said, adding the family is making an important investment in the community.

The Wentworth family did not return a phone message Wednesday.

Most of the facility would be contained to a proposed building on Old Indigo Hill Road that sits next to a conservation area. About six oil trucks a day would come in and out of the facility.

The Conservation Commission voiced concern about the possible smell and environmental contamination if oil spills, but representatives of the Wentworth family promised to mitigate those issues, according to Conservation Commission Chairman Dan Marquis.

He said aside from those concerns, the facility is a "good project" for the town, citing the job creation and pollution reduction.

Jansen said the biggest benefit was expanding the property tax base.

"(The facility) is going to help (stabilize) the tax rate," Jansen said. "People are screaming bloody murder … that they are being driven out of their homes because the tax rate is going up every year."

Jansen also cited potential future benefits, as its location on the undeveloped portion of Old Indigo Hill Road could encourage other businesses to move there, possibly creating an industrial park.

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