ELLSWORTH, Maine — The owner of a high-profile Ellsworth shopping center has listed that property and two nearby parcels for sale at a price of nearly $8.2 million.
In total, the properties — owned by New Jersey resident Matt Van Loon — represent 20 acres, including 97,000 square-feet of developed retail space and room for new developments. They are being sold through CBRE The Boulos Company, a Portland-based real estate firm.
Van Loon has listed the Ellsworth Shopping Center at 175 High Street, which includes Shaw’s, Renys, Family Dollar, Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, Wendy’s and the Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce; the Hanff building at 151 High Street, which includes Martha’s Diner and other local businesses; and 175 High Street, which is occupied by Sterling Marine Supply.
The Van Loon family inherited the properties after Matt Van Loon’s father, James C. Van Loon, died in 2009. He said though the property went on the market this week, its sale is not a foregone conclusion. Matt Van Loon is handling the estate.
“My father’s estate is still not closed and my family has decided to weigh a few options,” he wrote in an email Monday. “One of them is to test the commercial marketplace in Ellsworth.”
The Van Loon family owned nearly all the commercial and residential properties on the block bordered by High, Water, Foster and Washington streets until December 2011. At that time, the Van Loon Estate sold six properties along Water Street to Penquis CAP, which is building a 29-unit housing facility on those lots.
The family or its limited liability companies still own 13 properties on that block, according to records at the Ellsworth Assessing Department.
Van Loon said his father and grandfather had a vision for the block when they opened the Ellsworth Shopping Center nearly 50 years ago. That vision lives on, he said, and the Van Loon family still may choose to expand the commercial site rather than sell.
“Another option would be to double the size of the existing center with the undeveloped acreage we have behind the center,” he wrote. “I have received numerous calls from retailers over the past few years looking to capitalize on the growing Ellsworth.
“Whether we decide to sell or not, we are committed to the vision my father and grandfather had some fifty years ago,” he wrote.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
Another casualty of Super-Wallyworld??? bye-bye local economy!
Really WalMart is to blame??? Are you kidding me!! I am sure that they have supported that community with more money then any other business in Ellsworth. I am also certain that they employee more people then anyone else. Where would those people work if they were not working at Walmart?? Also with the economy in the hole where would people be able to afford to shop?? Walmart does not wreck communities it helps build them up.
Walmart builds up communities? Nice fantasy!
If you don’t like it, don’t shot there!
Don’t worry. I don’t shot there.
Yeah me either. Shotting at Walmart always hurts my ears.
Hey Mom,
Actually, the City of Ellsworth had to pony up 2 million in taxpayer dollars to re-route the traffic past that monstrosity, just to get Wally to agree to build. And sure, they put people to work, but could you live on $8-10/hr? Not exactly a living wage. Yes, the economy is in the hole, so why would you send your money to Arkansas and not spend in locally owned stores?
So, $10 an hour is NOT better than being unemployed in your world? So where are the locals going to get that money to spend in “locally owned stores” if $10 an hour jobs are beneath them? Ah yes, the Government is going to give it to them.
You are truly one of the privileged elite and a card carrying entitleist.
Well when you think about it…NO money is certainly better than SOME money…am I right?!?
Oh…wait….no.
I suppose serfs said the same thing.
Serfs were never paid and they did not live in a capitalist, free society. Of course if that’s the best response you have it speaks for itself.
Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless
—–Original message—–
Yes I could live on $8 – $10/hr. I would do so by not assuming I’m entitled to a brand-new car w/ a 7yr payment plan, a 60″ LED TV, an iPhone, and a whole host of other shinny bulls–t that people think they should have while they complain about ramen 6 nights a week for dinner.
exactly. Its better then unemployment
Not going to lie, Ramen 6 nights a week is pretty terrible.
Good one. Sam Walton’s relatives ARE rolling in the deep ! How much dough does one family kneed. I say ” Buy Maine , the job you save may be your own !”
what grocery store in Ellsworth is locally owned?
Friends and Family Market and John Edwards
They want it all.
Walmart doesnt help build communities. What absurd reality are you in? Walmart moves into a place and drives out all the local business. Mom and Pop shops, old time hardware stores run by that old guy who is always a pleasure to see. It costs cities money, it ruins the community feeling of closeness and trust between residents and venders/shops. Where would these people work if they were not working at Walmart? Probably no-where, because when Walmart came where-ever they used to work had to close because it couldnt compete with Walmarts “made-in-an-Asian-sweat-shop” goods. Walmart is not a good thing. At all. Your ideology is skewed by the lies that is Capitalism.
as far as I know people are free to shop wherever they want. If people care that much about a local business they can shop there. So may e we should be pointing fingers at the shoppers and not the business that they CHOOSE to shop at.
You need to understand the nature of the beast. Everything you basically need is at Walmart. Its also cheap. So people are going to go there, because money is pretty tight for most and they cannot afford to spend more money at local businesses. Its impossible to compete with Walmart. Its not really the shoppers choice, because their hand is forced by the economy and also once the Walmart comes and drives out all the other businesses there’s no other place to get your goods. Not much of a choice if theres only one place to buy something.
You are sure and certain based on what information exactly.
The local economy must not have been very healthy is it couldn’t handle a little competition!
Walmart isnt competition. Theres nothing to compete against. Walmart comes, everything else closes, done deal. No competition. Just a slow surrender to the overwhelming power of the “free” market and Capitalism.
They said the same thing about Home Depot coming to town and closing out all the smaller hardware stores. Bad Walmart bad!
the property is on the market but we might expand??????
Alternative headline: “Ellsworth is for Sale”
Wally World may be to blame but the place looks pretty ratty if you ask me. You can’t expect to compete against a new , well lit Wal Mart with a dumpy looking place.
You have your malls mixed up. The ratty looking one is the Maine Coast Mall. The part between TJ Maxx and Hannaford
Apparently, you have your malls mixed up. TJ Maxx & Hannaford are in the same mall, Einstein.
Evidently you cant read Brainiac. The article is about the Elsworth Shopping Center. The one without Hannaford and TJ Maxx.
Provided the Van Loon’s keep to their publicy state vision and commitment to Ellsworth, and do some really smart demographic planning, this whole area is going to be real good site for both renovation and expansion. The current store’s are obviously happy with their site’s otherwise they would have moved by now. And with the Jackson Lab’s in the process of expanding, and renovating the old Lowe’s store into a support facility (what was it, the egg’s and mice population ?) this would seem to be a good time for the Van Loon’s to both explore and measure the current market’s. But there is another edge to the sword.
Should Van Loon try to get some kind of TIF out of Ellsworth, for the renovation of the area, they might as well quit now and save themselves the legal bills and headache’s. Maine Govt’s, at any level, just can not afford to be putting TIF District exemptions out there for the foreseeable future. The Passum’s current windmill issue is about as clear example as you can get. This is the time for the business community, both local and the out-of-Stater’s, to start investing, while the investing cost’s can be negotiated and managed, and get their property’s and business’s ready for a increase in hiring and job’s. Jackson Lab’s has already declared their intention’s, and backed it up with the Lowe’s deal and building program, and is moving forward. The recent Hodgdon Boat deal with the Navy is another sign of returning business that is going to feed into the Ellsworth area. Van Loon is showing some serious business smart’s. The really big question is is anyone gonna follow him ?Only time will tell….
I’ll believe Jax Lab when I see it with my own eyes! They still have brand new empty building on the campus in Bar Harbor! They talk a good line, but as anyone who has ever worked there will tell you, they are not always honest.
The Lab lies to everyone all the time, don’t be fooled by the pretense of non-profit, the portion of the lab that makes a profit feeds the research but another part of the lab that makes huge money off new DNA reading machines separated itself so they can be FOR profit. There are stock holders making a lot lot lot of money in the name of investing in medical research, its a scam!
“DNA reading machines” ?? Those are called sequencers, and JAX is certainly not making money from sequencing. Care to elaborate? I have a feeling you don’t know what you are talking about. In some cases Lab does license patented technology to outside companies for a fee, which helps subsidize the operational costs of the laboratory, just like research universities do. However, the lab has no patents retailed to “DNA reading machines”, so I have a feeling you are uninformed. Bar Harbor Biotechnology was started by some former employees of the laboratory, and one research faculty member from the lab who was on sabbatical (who no longer has anything to do with BHB). It has very little connection to the laboratory any more, other than the patent license and renting space in the lab’s trenton warehouse. It is no longer managed by anyone with any previous connection to JAX, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it either get bought and shut down by some out of state company after the technology, or moved out of state to be closer to its customers.
Jax is one big lie!
sounds like someone that doesn’t know anything about the lab other than cleaning up after mice
Spoken like a true disgruntled ex-employee of JAX’s custodial staff. Good work!
what brand new building is empty? Several years ago the lab built a new datacenter, and did not occupy the second and third floors immediately, but finished the second floor a few years ago and is in the process of finishing the third floor now. The datacenter was critical, as the current one was inadequate, so that was brought online before the rest of the building. If there is a “brand new” building on campus it must be mouse rooms and it will certainly be occupied shortly, things like that take a lot of planning and logistics, and market demand. You build to meet your future need and then grow into it. The most recent research building is at least 6 years old now and mostly occupied (it takes a long time to recruit new investigators and give them time to grow their research programs to fully occupy their space).
people working in the mouse room often do not know or comprehend anything about the lab other than changing mouse boxes, so I wouldn’t go by what they say
I wouldn’t go by what you say! You are obviously trying very hard to spread more Lab propaganda!
I worked of Jax for over 8 years! (And no, not in the mouse rooms!) I was in middle management.. I got tired of the lies, the propaganda. the liberal politics and the constant backstabbing!
And YES folks, there are empty building on campus! They have to keep building or they loose grant money, regardless of the need! Construction at Jax is nothing but a scam!
there are partially occupied buildings on campus. there are no empty buildings on campus. It takes time to expand research programs to occupy newly constructed lab space, you don’t build a building and the next day have it fully occupied with fully developed research programs. Most new principal investigators arrive either by themselves, or with one or two other lab members and plan to staff up over a 5 year period.
I’m actually not all that impressed with a lot of the middle management. I’ve seen many that were promoted not because of ability, but because the lab favors internal candidates and those people had been at the lab for so long. You can really tell when someone is and undereducated middle management that was only promoted over the years because they are a “local”.
most middle managers are useless
So in other words you got RIFed because all the other middle-managers were doing a better job than you.
Liberal politics….HAHAHA
Dude, dont argue with her. She is God. You dont argue with God.
Rich 1 %’er! Tax him, Tax him, Tax him ’till is isn’t rich any more!
I appreciate a good socialist rant when I read one! Forward Comrade!
While I consider Abbyisgod to be a bit numb…(s)he was obviously being sarcastic.
Put down the Kool-Aid, pick up a book. You’ll be glad you did!
Please, please. please —don’t take Reny’s away from me??? I could not live without a visit to Reny’s when we go to Ellsworth!!!
reny’s is overrated
dollar tree/ocean stat job lot, big lots are better
Reny’s is LOCAL !! The dollars spent there stay in the state of Maine, I do not believe that is true of Dollar Tree, Ocean State (Connecticut based), and certainly not Wal-Mart.
Ocean State Job Lot is Rhode Island based, hence the name. Good thing, too… “Nutmeg State Job Lot” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
I kind of like the odd crazy laugh at the end of the Reny ads! It’s like the Mardens lady … native cool me think!
dollar tree, ocean state, job lot and big lots are overrated not reny’s
dollar tree and ocean state are *hit holes……hope they never come to Ellsworth
I found Reny’s over priced.
Keep shopping at The Dollar Store then, Bozo
All the nice words from looney tune means they have seen the writing on the wall. The old man is dead and if there is a half decent bid, they will take the money and run. Thank you Ellsworth. See Ya!
dont bother opening a fireworks store,
the two in central maine are seeing as few as 3 customers in a day
there is already one is Ellsworth. I predict several will close once they find out they can’t make enough money in a couple weeks around July to make it a profitable year-round enterprise.
One in Old Town too.
Hopefully Roxanne Quimby will buy that up. ;)
I may have missed it, I did not see that it stated they planned to close all of the stores. They are simply looking at selling the buildings. This happens quite often, and the stores that are renting, most often, continue to run their businesses just as they always have.
$8 Million??? I’ll offer them 2, & they’ll take it. You kiddin me? Please. That whole building is falling apart. The Myrick street property is worth more. And it’s vacant.
I’ll pay $8 million but I want the whole city
It’s your counter to the opening offer… I like it.
Please read the article–again! Nothing about the economy, etc. Matt inherited it, lives in N.J. and doesn’t necessarily want to keep it. Those stores mentioned are all busy and doing well. How do you people read this article and start ranting about WalMart and how Ellsworth is so bad economically. It’s doing quite well. It’s amazing that a story that doesn’t mention any kind of distress can get misconstrued so fast and off track.
EXACTLY…The libs never offer anything but regurgiated liberal talking points..The stores are doing just fine..Still waiting for the usual suspects to paste their LePage rants…LOL..That will be next…
Oh and to the idjits who were ranting about Walmart destroying the downtowns…Compare Rockland’s downtown to Belfast’s…LOL…
You know there’s nothing liberal, or conservative, about this story. To make it so shows, what you’re really all about. I’ve live on the Blue Hill peninsula, most of my life, Ellsworth is doing well, and for the most part so are the towns around it. I live in Dexter for 11 years, I couldn’t wait to move home, give the liberal, way of life any day. How come there are most jobs in liberal areas, I mean really how come?
More and more of these cowards will come out of the woodwork as we get close to the election, then they’ll slink back to whatever rarely-visited forum they came from after the election is over.
Your best bet is to simply ignore them, as they are seeking a reaction. Don’t feed the troll, the troll starves to death. Simple math.
Towns like Ellsworth or Windham are much maligned as strip mall communities… the fact is they are important commercial hubs and excellent places to live with a broad & healthy tax base…
“Ellsworth Maine?? Where the *#@! is THAT??”
Portugal.
sorry man, ellsworth is predominately white folks all year long ……
What color do you think Portuguese people are?
Its that place where you stop and go pee on your way to the island
This is new. New Jersey selling part of coastal Maine back to us. Maybe…
As long as they don’t try and sell us that over-plump tasteless garbage they call “blueberries”…
The get the community pulse, just start going to yard sales. You will hear many stories of why people are moving and selling off their ‘stuff” They cannot afford Maine and its taxes any longer. Throw in heating cost for 7 plus months and that is why they are heading to Florida. I’m sure the business folks want to be where they can attract additional monies and not remain stagnant and cut their own costs. It’s never ending maneuvering for the best results at the lowest cost, for everyone.
These tourist towns are doing great, business wise.
We need to convince the sports to visit the other Maine while they are in the area.
There are fewer places in Maine where I feel comfortable. Used to be that once I passed Portland I felt free. Then it was Freeport, Then Rockland Then Searsport. Now-a-days it is Millbridge.
How much of Maine has to fall to the Massachusetts way of life before people say ENOUGH!
Yeah, I work here and I know how hard it is to find work when you are unemployed, but the need to live has to have a reason. I personally need woods, rivers, and lakes where you can’t hear the sound of cars.
Guess in a couple of years I’ll have to pull up stakes and find someplace further north of “little New Jersey”
if you think anywhere north of Portland is “the Massachusettes way of life” you haven’t spent much time in Massachusettes
Lived in Massachusetts for awhile, Framinghan actually. Looks EXACTLY like Ellsworth only bigger. Same rude pushy people, and same crazy drivers in the parking lots.