Local Realtor Says Offer For Old Fire Station Is Far Too Low [with video]
Groton Realtor John Carver told Selectmen at their meeting Monday night that the current offer of $100,000 that they have on the table for the old Groton Fire Station" is inadequate" and he felt that the property had not been properly marketed, citing the fact that only Groton residents were bidders and word of the sale of the station never spread beyond town borders. He said his comments are based on his 25 years as a real estate broker and pointed to larger sales such as Clover Farms Market, 142 Main Street and a vacant lot next to the fire station and prices realized from these sales.
"The Assessors are doing a good job," he said, with 133 total transactions over the last year, the mean sale to assessment was 99.59 percent. The lowest sale price was at 53 percent of mean sale to assessment. This offer is far from the $500,000 plus assessment on the old fire station.
Carver pleaded with Selectmen to put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the old fire station one more time - but this time to market the property through a realtor. He stressed that under Chapter 33, the town can use a realtor to assist in marketing of the property. "You might be able to do better. I'm sure that I am not the only one that feels that $100,000 is not adequate...It is a great investment," he said. Using a realtor, he said, would allow information about availability of the station to be sent to large online real estate websites and get greater exposure. "I know we can do better," he said.
He added that Station Avenue has "an industrial feel," and you have to control permitting, adding that a residence and bike shop are not in the contract, suggesting that another type of business would be the highest and best use for the building.
Selectman Josh Degen stressed that once the town closed on the sale, and if the owner could not get necessary permits, "I would be concerned and want some constraints put into the Purchase & Sale that the Board of Selectmen has the right to revoke the P&S."
Colleague Jack Petropoulos "agreed wholeheartedly" and expressed concern that other states had not heard of the availability of the station. He then moved to form a small working committee consisting of a realtor and selectman to put together a plan to market the town's assets. The Board voted to approve his motion.
Of the five Selectmen, Chairman Peter Cunningham, Stuart Schulman and Anna Eliot supported the sale; Selectman Degen supported with the provision in the Purchase & Sale agreement; and Selectman Petropoulos did not support selling the old fire station.
