Scaling Up

With 17 full-time people, it was time to upgrade. So we bought 2ac and an 11,000 SF office building.

Hey — Jonah here.

Welcome back to Brick + Mortar, where I share stories on developing real estate at Village Ventures in rural Vermont.

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Outside our new office building.

You’re looking at the proud new owner of an 11,000 SF office building in Orford, NH.

Originally built as Governor Meldrim Thomson’s book publishing offices in the ‘50s, a partner and I closed last week on it for $750,000.

I’m not an office guy, but we needed space.

We’re now up to 17 full-time people, including me. Two of us at Village Ventures, 15 at Réal Hazen Construction.

For the past year, the four of us working from the office have been crammed into two, 200 SF rooms with 7’ ceilings. Multiple people on the phone at once often means someone’s taking calls outside. And bathroom breaks get a little intimate with the thin walls.

Thankfully, all that ends soon.

11,000 SF is a lot of space. And we only need a fraction of that.

The good news is building is already broken up into four separate suites:

• 1,500 SF to be taken by us, currently being built out

• 3,000 SF kept by previous owner on a multi-year lease

• 3,000 SF vacant but ready-to-rent office

• 3,000 SF of below-grade space with 9’ ceilings and window wells. Currently vacant but could get creative with uses here (commissary kitchen?)

• Remaining 500 SF of common area

Plan is to get to NNN leases ranging from $8-$12/SF/yr.

The best part?

It’s on a 2ac parcel right on the river.

2ac with river access and developable land.

So, not only do we have private dock access, but we have a good chuck of land that can still be developed.

TBD on what that looks like.

Maybe some shop space for the construction business. Maybe more office—or even housing.

Tough part is Orford also doesn’t have town sewer so, you know, there’s always septic design to look forward to.

But step one is leasing up the empty space. Once that’s stable, we’ll dive into the possibilities.

Here are some photos of the vacant space.

3,000 SF of already built-out office. Prior tenant was a law office.

3,000 SF of high-ceiling, below grade space. Will need to get creative with this one.

While technically we won’t be located in Fairlee, VT, we’re only two minutes away from our old office. We scoured for office in Fairlee for over a year and came up empty handed.

Nothing changes for us on how we operate or where we develop and build. This is just a simple relocation that is better suited for our growing team.

Until next time.

— Jonah 🧱

P.S. Want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn.