Upgrades planned for Winnipesaukee Pier after $2M sale to East Coast Flight Craft

The Winnipesaukee Pier. (Adam Drapcho/Laconia Daily Sun)

By MICHAEL KITCH, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — After lingering on the market for years, the Winnipesaukee Pier has been acquired by East Coast Flight Craft, Inc., a recreational boat dealer with a showroom in Meredith and similar operations in Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut. Doing business as Winnipesaukee Weirs Pier, LLC, Flight Craft purchased the landmark property from the estate of George "the Chief" Abdulla for $2 million, less than listing price of $2.6 million.

Ryan Cardella, operations manager at East Coast Flight Craft, said Monday that that the pier will undergo an immediate facelift, which will include replacing the miniature golf course with parking spaces and adding picnic areas. He said that space will be leased to new vendors, a smoke house serving Texas-stye barbecue and a pizza parlor. The firm will also manage boat sales, service and fueling operations from the pier.

Cardella said that what he called "a five-year plan" will ultimately include reconstruction and reconfiguration of the pier into a more upscale recreational and dining venue together with recreational attractions and marina operations. Altogether he anticipated that Flight Craft will invest $3 million to $4 million in the property.

The pier originated as a boat livery, which in 1919 was acquired by Jim Irwin, the bandleader, impresario, stockbroker and boat dealer whose energy and panache ushered The Weirs into its "Golden Age." On Memorial Day in 1925, a year after fire destroyed the New Hotel Weirs, Irwin opened the Winnipesaukee Gardens, built atop the wharf, which for the next four decades served as a popular venue for the best big dance bands in the land. In 1976, after rock 'n roll eclipsed the big bands and while the boat business was flourishing, the Irwins sold the pier.

The property consists of about 0.6 of an acre of land with a little more than 14,000 square feet of usable space, excluding an unfinished basement of more than 6,000 square feet. In 2016 the property was assessed at $1,642,600.