Category Archives: Real Estate

Real estate, property consisting of land or buildings, in Newburyport, MA

Newburyport, Waterfront Survey 2000

Bless the readers of the Newburyport Blog. I love it when accurate information comes my way.

This is a clarification and correction of the earlier entry on the Central Waterfront (which is being discussed on Tom Salemi’s blog.) Yes, the 2000 survey did address the issue of all kinds of uses, including, mixed-use, retail/residential.

Please press here to see the PDF version of the survey that the NRA sent out in 2000.

Mary Lou Supple emailed me to say that in the year 2000, “Of all the things people did not want to see on the waterfront, housing of any kind was number one. No one wanted anyone else to live on their waterfront. ” (Used with permission.)

And apparently the surveys with comments, about 1500 of them, were placed in the reference section of the Newburyport Library in 2000, in three binders. I have not checked to see if they are still there now.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

A Win-Win on the Newburyport City Council Floor

The mood on the Newburyport City Council floor on Monday night October 29, 2007 was, I would say, jovial from the get go– the night that the Fruit Street Local Historic District came up for its final vote.

Often when major decisions are made, the mood on the Newburyport City Council floor could sometimes be tense. On the night the vote for the special election for the Newburyport school override, it felt as if the whole place could be on edge.

But not last night. Last night was a whole different story.

During the “Public Comment” period, a lot of folks spoke on behalf of the Fruit Street Local Historic District, and not the usually faces. And sometimes, for me, the “Public Comment” period is not my favorite part to watch. It often feels painful.

But not last night.

The Newburyport City Council seemed to be genuinely moved by the folks that spoke during the “Public Comment” period.

Karen Battles of the Newburyport Preservation Trust had this to say:

“One of the delights of living here is walking through neighborhood after neighborhood of historic homes. Maybe because we are surrounded by it everyday, we don’t grasp how unbelievably rare this is in this day and age. As more and more places become cookie-cutter subdivisions and the same franchise appears every other block, the authentic becomes more and more valuable. We are the currents stewards of Newburyport, we have not only the right, but the obligation to protect our resources.” (Used with permission)

There was also a great deal of laughter and kidding around. This is not always the case.

And when it came to the vote on the Newburyport City Council floor, Newburyport City Councilor James Shanley spoke most eloquently. And you could almost hear people holding their breath as Richard Jones, the Newburyport City Clerk, called the roll.

And when the vote was not only in favor of the Fruit Street Local Historic District, but was unanimous, applause and cheers spontaneously broke out. A lot of jumping up and down with sheer relief and joy.

This is an example of a project that has taken decades to come about. And the actual creation of the Newburyport Fruit Street Local Historic District took a lot of time (2 years), with a great deal of public input and public process. There were no shortcuts here. And, from what I observed, there was also a great deal of dialogue with the Newburyport City Council and the Mayor as well.

And this combination of productive public process and constructive public dialogue made for a win-win situation, instead of public divisiveness that could occur over a variety of issues.

This whole process is an incredible example of how to get positive things accomplished on the municipal level. And again a big congratulations to everyone involved.

And again (see previous post) this Newburyport City Council 2006-2007 has come so far in working together and working for the good of the citizens of Newburyport, MA, and I am so proud of them. And not to repeat myself, but to repeat myself, I cannot fathom why anyone would say that that would not be so.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Real Estate and The Bottom Line

Someone playing “devil’s advocate” (this works for me) said that they thought there would be very little difference between Mr. Karp owning much of downtown Newburyport, MA and someone like David Hall who also owns a great deal of property in our small New England city.

For me, the difference would be vast.

David Hall is “on the ground” and “walking among us.” (Please press here to read earlier entry on David Hall).

Mr. Hall has done incredible things for our community, like raising the money and being the chair-person to see that the skateboard park (which is really amazing) at the Nock Middle School got built. This is a huge accomplishment.

Mr. Hall did this by contacting and connecting with “all and everyone” in the community to raise money to get this remarkable project completed.

And that’s just one of the many things that he has done and is doing for our community. David Hall’s involvement with the Rail Trail, a long and lengthy process, would be another amazing example.

And David Hall was also one of the first if not the first to go solar and green. And it must be to his total delight that finally “going green” has become popular, if not just downright “politically correct.” This is a man way ahead of his time.

And David Hall is physically part of the community. He is part of our “everyday trivial” lives (please see previous post). He and his family can be found at the pharmacy, doing errands around town, at the checkout line at the local supermarket. He is enmeshed in our community, our neighborhood, our town and our lives.

When the Lagasses owned much of downtown, I think people had a trust level, because they were/are one of us. And the fact that they are on the ground leasing the retail properties owned by Mr. Karp and New England Development (NED) is a relief.

However, a huge corporate entity owns so much of where we exist. (Please press here to see NED’s website). And I think that is what is so unsettling to me and to so many folks in Newburyport, MA.

Looking at NED’s website, Newburyport is just one of many projects. And yes, to reiterate, Mr. Karp may indeed be a “benevolent” landlord, but the bottom line is making money. (And that is his right, he bought all that property.)

But that is very different for me, than the bottom line being “what is best for the community on all socio-economic levels.”

I know that David Hall knows the folks in Newburyport, MA, and it is not all about the bottom line of “making money.” That there are many times, that no one knows about, that Mr. Hall has committed random acts of kindness and empathy, because, in my experience, that is who is he is. And he is viscerally connected to the community of Newburyport, MA in a way that Mr. Karp, unless he moves to Newburyport, MA (which I would imagine be unlikely) could never, ever be.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

(Editor’s note: Here are two related and very helpful links for the Newburyport Rail Trail. The Coastal Trail Coalition and The Essex National Heritage Commission.)

New England Development and Downtown Newburyport

“Most of it is ostensibly utterly trivial, but the sum is not trivial at all. The sum of such casual, public contact at the local level. . . most of it fortuitous, most of it associated with errands . . . is a feeling for the public identity of people, a web of public respect and trust, and a resource in time of personal or neighborhood need. The absence of this trust is a disaster to a city street.”

“The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, by Jane Jacobs from the website of subortnbpt.org.

It’s Mr. Karp again.

I had an email conversation with an elected official who met with Ann Lagasse recently. What I took away from my email conversation would be something that many folks could be happy seeing develop in Newburyport, MA.

Basically that New England Development (NED) is thinking of stuff like the store on Middle and State Streets– “independently owned or small-chain outfits that offer something that complements, not detracts from, the existing retail mix of downtown….”

That…”help bolster the downtown, and who stand a good chance of making it.”

And my email friend says that they would “doubt very seriously we will be seeing anything that is low to mid market.”

And that “New England Development chose to invest in Newburyport (the Lagasses) because it is working and is successful. They see no reason to change what is obviously not broken.” (Excerpts from this email have been used with permission.)

The shop at Middle and State Streets (see earlier entry) confirms the above statements.

However, this doesn’t mean that I do not have some reservations.

Ms Lagasse is in charge of leasing the stores in downtown Newburyport, but Mr. Karp owns them. He owns “us.” (“Newburyport, Fifty top retail properties in downtown Newburyport and along the waterfront,” is listed on NED’s website under “Portfolio”.)

And, Mr. Karp may be very “good willed” and have very “good intentions,” but he is not part of our everyday, “trivial” lives. And that is important for trust, major community trust.

It has to do, for me, with the very confusing times we live in. A dehumanizing thing seems to be taking place.

Bill Moyers in his speech, “What Adam Said to Eve” (see earlier entry) talks about the “corporations that largely control our media and telecommunications systems,” and the chilling effect that has had on journalism.

And it feels to me that with luck that we may have a “benevolent” corporation as a landlord, but it would still be a corporation (New England Development, Mr. Karp) that would control so much of our downtown.

It would, for me, be the opposite of community. First of all I’m not big on monopolies, and to state the obvious, personally I don’t think it’s healthy to have someone or anyone control that much of Newburyport, MA.

And one does not meet (although one might meet its representative, Mr. and Mrs Lagasse) a corporation, in this case, New England Development (NED) at the pharmacy, doing an errand downtown, or over vegetables at the supermarket. The “trivial” things that are part of community, neighborhood, that create empathy for the people inhabiting a particular place, our place.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Mr. Steven Karp and Downtown Newburyport

The corner of State Street and Middle Street in downtown Newburyport, MA.

I walked by the store that used to be the Candle and Mug shop. A much beloved place, accessible to all socio economic groups of folks.

This is one of the properties that is now owned by Newburyport’s new landlord, Mr. Steven Karp.

The first time I walked by, it was about to pour rain, so I didn’t go in. But I went back the next day.

The shop, that just opened, sells shoes (and a few clothes, but mostly shoes).

It has a very “up-scale” look.

(Note to readers: I probably am one of the few women in the USA who doesn’t love shoes. That’s just me. But I respect all those folks out there who do love shoes.)

I went into the shop and picked up a very nice looking pair of shoes, and went, “Ooops, not in my price range.”

Then I went and picked up another pair of shoes and went, “Oooo, really not in my price range.”

Then I saw a pair of boots and when I looked at the price, I said to myself, “Don’t even go there.”

And finally, I saw a pair of men’s shoes that I was impressed by, but when I saw the price, I went, “Say what?”

Let’s just say this is not a place that middle income families are going to be shopping at a lot. This store is definitely geared towards the more “well to do.”

And this is where Mr. Karp could be headed with Newburyport, MA.

This is not a chain store. This is a store out of Maine, that is beginning to expand (one day it might become a chain store, but it now has 6 stores, so it’s not chain store at the moment.)

This is a privately owned, family run business, not local, but out of New England (Maine). It’s been around since 1830. All very hard to argue with.

It is also aimed at a certain socio economic group. (It does not fit in with the goals of our Master Plan.)

Sigh.

So, enjoy places like Angies. Give the “buyLocal” stores in town that appeal to all socio economic groups of people, lots of patronage, because it would be my guess that they would need it.

If the new shop at the corner of Middle and State Street (as nice as it might be) is any indication of where Mr. Karp might be going, it could be a pretty good indicator of the direction that Newburyport might be taking in the next 10 years.

(For those who might not know, Mr. Karp owns a great deal of downtown Newburyport, and has bought up a great deal of waterfront property in Newburyport, MA.)

And I don’t know, my guess would be that if folks might not like it, that if this would be in fact Mr. Karp’s objective, that there would not be much that anyone could do about it. (To re-state the obvious, this is the danger of one person owning so much vital property in Newburyport, MA.)

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

(Editor’s Note: Mr. Karp has been on a many people’s minds the last few days. BuyLocal sponsored and co-sponsored two events this weekend. And Ed Cameron has recently blogged about Mr. Karp noting that the phrase “high-end consumer” appeared to be a phrase that is often used. And Tom Salemi on his blog is doing some major in-depth blogging on Mr. Steven Karp.)

Open Houses, Real Estate and Gut Jobs

One of the things that I love to do is go to “Open Houses.”

I went to one this weekend. I was surprised that it was so “reasonably priced.”

(Just as a btw, I don’t think any real estate in Newburyport, MA is “reasonably priced.” In fact I find the prices for homes in Newburyport, MA to be terrifyingly high. However, this one was “cheaper” than a lot of stuff out there for the same size.)

The real estate broker was very apologetic. She said you really had to love “antiques” to like this one.

Wow.

Hello.

Excuse me.

Yes, this particular place actually had all the original moldings, like beautiful dental moldings, and the real estate broker was apologizing.

Sigh.

What have we come to in Newburyport, MA?

I go to a lot of the “newer” Open Houses (replications or gut jobs) and they all look the same to me. Ironically, often one of the big features that is pointed out to me is the “moldings.” Only, often I know that the old moldings were ripped out and this is brand new, not historic molding.

When I see these “gut jobs” all over Newburyport, MA, it feels as if the soul of the place is being gutted too.

My gut is that these gut jobs are an indication of something else, besides a deep un-appreciation of historic preservation and all that could mean.

I’m going to have to think on that one, but when I see them, they always make me very sad and very angry.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Newburyport, High Street Reconstruction

Enough with the “peccadillo” stuff. I’m sick of the “political peccadillo” stuff. Good grief.

A few days ago I got just good old fashion nosy, and I went up and snooped around 87 High Street. The house/mansion across from Fruit Street and the Newbury Historical Society, where they seem to have been doing all kinds of stuff, like it seems for a gazillion years. It’s real hard to miss.

The folks that bought it paid a good chunk of change (I’ve learned my lesson on the Newburyport Blog, no names, and if anyone wants to know the actual selling price they could go look it up themselves on salemdeeds.com). According to the Planning Board minutes, May 2, 2007 these folks are from California, and this “dwelling” is going to be their second residence.

Wow. Are we talking major moola here or what?

From what I can make out they want to make the carriage house into a “guest house,” which presents a bunch of zoning issue stuff. I can’t tell if the zoning issue stuff has been resolved, but the carriage house appears to be literally hanging around the place, unanchored, so the zoning stuff hasn’t been sufficiently addressed yet, or they just haven’t gotten around to gussying the guesthouse up.

There is new pool way back behind, so you could barely see it, if at all, from the house, I was told. And no darn it, they wouldn’t let me back there for a peek. Nuts.

It looks like they kept the front of the historic High Street house intact, but who knows, they wouldn’t let me in there either. I had no hard hat, and who the heck knew who I was, except some snoopy person.

And from the outside, the long addition in the back, looked new, but awesome to me.

And what can I say, the place was slightly, dare I say it, “flashy.” Not New England Yankee we really don’t have money, but actually we do have money, but, no, we don’t have money. This is, we’ve got bucks and we are proud.

So California, so not New England.

Let me tell you, I had High Street envy, which almost never happens. I’m telling you the truth here.

But, if these folks live in California and are using it as a place to visit, I’m raising my hand here to volunteer to house-sit during those long, cold New England winters, when any California person would want to be in California.

And, no, if the guesthouse gets done, I don’t want to house-sit in the guest house, I want to house-sit in the BIG place.

And these folks have to pay real estate tax, right, which has got to be huge. Has to help our coffers a whole lot.

I’m probably pissing off all sorts of preservationists, and acquiring yet more peccadilloes. And maybe when I learn the “back story,” I’ll be New England horrified.

But this looks like a whole new level of real estate purchasing for Newburyport, MA to moi. And if they let me house-sit, I wonder if I’d get to stay in the master suite.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Newburyport, A Real Estate Inquiry About the Landfill

Shortly before Christmas I got a phone call. The phone call was from a young lady who was about to buy a house in Newburyport, MA and wanted to know if it was safe to live here because of our Landfill issue.

Why in the world was she calling me?

She had called the Mayor’s office to ask this very question. I felt sorry for Lois, Mayor John Moak’s secretary, who apparently had the pleasure of trying to answer such an inquiry. My caller was not satisfied.

And she was told that our health inspector was “not available,” which he probably wasn’t, because he was probably out inspecting the work being done on the Newburyport Landfill.

So, low and behold, Google gave me up as a source of information on this subject. (There’s lots of information when one Googles “Newburyport Landfill,” not just moi, thank goodness.)

It was assumed that the “Newburyport Blogger” would have some answers for this much panicked individual.

Well, this Newburyport blogger knew that she was no source of reliable or informed information, and gave the young lady in question phone numbers of individuals who she felt would be able to impart educated, knowledgeable and fair insight into whether or not it was safe to live in Newburyport, MA.

Well, I live here, so obviously I think it’s safe.

However, the cautionary tale here is to the realtors in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The Landfill issue apparently appears to be hurting the realtor bottom-line, if people are Googling me for info and “guidance” on this stuff. Good grief.

So, I would suggest that it might be a good idea if the realtors in the region ban together and help the City of Newburyport, MA put additional pressure on the “powers that be” on the state level, so that the Landfill issue can get resolved, really and truly, real quick, and folks wouldn’t wonder if it would be a problem to live here health and real-estate-wise. My.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Newburyport, A New Breed of Developer

A frightening new breed of developer for Newburyport, MA, Ouch.

Mr. Minot Frye apparently has set his sights on Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Mr. Frye is a developer from Wenham, Massachusetts. The address I have is 16 Grapevine Road. (Minot is an old Massachusetts name, going back to the 1600’s.) As I understand it, Minot Frye has formed an equity firm, private money (“old money” I would suppose) to reinvest, I gather in this case in Newburyport real estate, to make investors even more money.

Minot Frye is the gentleman who bought 11-13 Ship Street, yes, that wonderful federalist with the orchard that so many of us love.

No ray of hope apparently. It appears that the plea for restoration has fallen on deaf ears.

Demolition, I gather, is the name of the game and yes, the orchard goes. And I gather, not even building a replica in kind, (alas, how far my bar has fallen.)

From what I know an architectural firm (I believe it is Dyer Brown and Associates in Boston) has come up with several versions of what might go on this piece of property. I’ve been told that the latest version is two Georgian style condos, connected and to be built back to back. Ouch. (11-13 Ship Street is a deeded two family.)

I’ve also been told that Mr. Minot Frye had his eye on 96 High Street, but the owner who sold it didn’t want to wait and see if whatever the project Mr. Frye had in mind (3 units, I’m told?) would go through the Newburyport Zoning Board of Appeals (apparently there were other more appealing offers.) Ouch, one more time.

And I am also told that Mr. Frye is actively looking for property to develop in Newburyport, MA. Look out folks.

Moneyed people with “taste,” “old money” and deep, deep pockets, looking to make yet more money off Newburyport, Massachusetts. It is the opinion of this local Newburyport blogger, that clearly if Mr. Frye is planning to demolish 11-13 Ship Street, and my, my putting up who knows what, that in my book, this is not a good sign.

If one can hire an architectural firm and go through several versions already, surely the money for restoration would be possible. Don’t folks with names that go back to the 1600’s care about historic preservation?

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Newburyport, 11-13 Ship Street—Sold

Magical places, yup 11-13 Ship Street is what I would consider to be one of those magical places. It is a two family federalist home. The property goes back to Smith Street. And in the back of the house is the most delightful orchard. The property has a wonderful spirit to it and a remarkable sense of place.

The property sold in March to 1804 Associates, LLC at 16 Grapevine Road in Wenham, Massachusetts.

The fairly substantiated rumor is that whoever these folks are, they are going to demolish the property and put up a “replica.” Ouch.

I’ve been in contact with the Newburyport Preservation Trust and unfortunately at this point they do not know anymore than I do.

I did a little snooping to try and find out who the buyers, 1804 Associates, might be. All I could find out was that 16 Grapevine Road is a residential area in Wenham, Massachusetts that is owned (this is courtesy of www.salemdeeds.com) by a Mr. Minot Frye.

The only thing I could find about Mr. Frye on Google was a paper on real estate risk management written in 1998. That’s it. It is not even clear whether or not Mr. Minot Frye is actually part of 1804 Associates.

It is clear however, that someone from out of town has bought this remarkable property, and it appears that their first response is demolition. Ouch.

When I talked to the folks at the Newburyport Preservation Trust they said that they would try and get in touch with the buyers and explain the financial incentives for historic preservation.

It would be really horrible to see this remarkable property destroyed.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

Newburyport, Developers

On Thursday (yesterday) someone called me asking me about property around Storey Avenue. I kept asking, “Why are you calling me?” “Why are you calling me?” And after I stopped saying that for about 10 times, because I really could not imagine why in the world they wanted to talk to me, they told me it was because of the “wealth of information” on the Newburyport Political Blog.

Later Thursday evening after I received an email from them and checked out their website, it turned out that this was a commercial real estate broker, and they happen to specialize in large chain stores. This is not exactly who I thought the readership of the Newburyport Political Blog would be.

(Note to developers, for goodness sakes do not call me for information. It makes me very angry and I am completely weirded out.)

However, after I stopped saying “why are you calling me?” “why are you calling me?” I finally said, “Good grief, the person you want to talk to is our Planning Director, Nick Cracknell. He has knowledge and information, not me. And leave an ASAP message with the Planning Office.”

And when I called the Planning Office to give them a “heads-up”, Mr. Cracknell was in and already talking to them. Thank goodness.

The barbarians are at the gates folks, to use Jim Roy’s phrase, and Mr. Cracknell is on his way out.

From what I could make out these people wanted information about our mayor, John Moak, basically just how receptive he would be to their company. (Why they were calling me is a mystery.) In particular they kept talking about the Woodman property.

No I never want to talk to these people again. But if you are reading the Newburyport Political Blog, this is not Stamford Connecticut, and no we do not want anything like a Target down on Storey Avenue. Good grief. And you know what, I have every confidence, that our mayor John Moak and the entire Newburyport City Council would agree.

This is Newburyport, Massachusetts. We want to keep the historic and natural integrity of our small New England city. We have a Walmart in Seabrook, New Hampshire. We do not want anything close to that here.

So, thank goodness Nick Cracknell was around. But heads-up folks, if these folks are calling me a blogger, with a baby blog no less, who else are they trying to get in touch with. And how many others are out there like them who may be thinking the same thing?

The goal of the Newburyport Political Blog is not exactly to help developers, especially those who aren’t interested in “smart growth.” So, leave us alone. Stay in Stamford, Connecticut. Go away. We do not want you here. At least I don’t.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport