WATERVILLE — The Hathaway Creative Center on Water Street, which several years ago was transformed from a former shirt factory into retail offices and 67 apartments in an effort that jump-started downtown revitalization hopes, is now for sale.
The property is listed on loopnet.com as a five-story, 236,000-square-foot mill building at 10 Water St. that is 83 percent leased. The sale price is not listed, but the city’s assessed value of the building and parking lot is about $9 million.
“Hathaway Creative Center offers a rare combination of a richly historic building with a stable income and significant upside potential in a top Maine office, retail and residential market,” according to the listing by CBRE/The Boulos Company.
Hathaway building co-owner Paul Boghossian said Thursday afternoon that he will continue to own the adjacent former Central Maine Power Co. and Marden’s industrial buildings and selling his part in Hathaway will give him more capital to invest in the other two buildings.
Boghossian may continue to be part of the Hathaway building after it is sold, he said.
“There’s been strong interest in it,” Boghossian said. “It’s good for us because our investors have been very patient. They hadn’t seen any return. It’ll be really nice to pay our investors. There are a few people interested who are what I would call ‘potentially friendly buyers’ who would want me to stay as part of the team.”
Boghossian and Niemann Capital LLC, of North Carolina, are majority owners of Hathaway, and Boghossian said others also own part of it.
The 67 apartments in the Hathaway building are full, with a waiting list, and rent for between $800 and $1,900 per month, according to Boghossian.
City Manager Michael Roy on Thursday credited Boghossian and Niemann Capital with helping “to jump-start everything else that’s been happening in and around the downtown.”
“We are confident that the sale will be to someone else who will continue in the same vein that they have,” Roy said.
“Hathaway has gotten several interest requests, and I would expect us to see a potential change of real estate shortly,” said Garvan Donegan, senior economic development specialist at Central Maine Growth Council.
Colby College has bought several downtown buildings and plans renovations, building a student dormitory downtown and demolishing some buildings.
In addition, Colby College alumnus Matthew Hancock recently purchased the Let’s Talk Learning School space on Temple Street, according to Donegan. He said Hancock is cleaning and putting money into the building and plans to lease the space.
Meanwhile, the Boulos listing says the Hathaway building, next to the Kennebec River, is occupied by MaineGeneral Medical Center, Healthreach Network, Nalco, Cengage Learning and Collaborative Consulting, among others.
C.F. Hathaway & Co. made shirts at the 1881 building until 2003. Boghossian redeveloped the mill building for about $30 million and reopened it in 2009.
A Rhode Island resident, Boghossian is a Colby graduate. Boghossian said he is happy about being involved in revitalization efforts downtown.
“It’s an exciting time for Waterville, clearly,” he said. “The city is on the move. It will look and feel like a very different place.”
Boghossian said he thinks there is interest in having more residential space downtown, and that his two buildings next to Hathaway have the potential for that.
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