Belknap Marketplace management team sees demand for space rising

BELMONT — In real estate development — particularly when redeveloping a property such as the former Belknap Mall — it helps to have faith.

“You have to spend the money and pray,” said George Vernet, owner of the Salem, Massachusetts-based Vernet Properties, which took over the property near the Belmont-Laconia line in February of last year. Vernet said his company put a good foot forward by resurfacing the mall’s parking lot and installing two new large, electronic signboards, displaying the new identity of the mall as “Belknap Marketplace.”

Further improvements are in the works, including landscaping, repairing the building’s sprawling, flat roof, and replacing the interior lights — many of which are currently dark — with bright and modern LED fixtures.

Vernet’s portfolio of properties is 10 in number, split between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and includes a few larger shopping centers as well as smaller properties. According to a press release issued when the purchase of the Belknap Mall closed, Vernet Properties paid $7.85 million for the five-building parcel, which contained a total of 235,000 square feet of interior space.

Vernet said he was moved to make an offer on the property because of its basic dimensions.

“I looked at 22 acres of flat land, with sewer and water, which you can’t find,” Vernet said. While there were many vacant storefronts, the property had some notable anchor tenants, including a busy Planet Fitness and a Shaw’s supermarket that has been there for decades.

The buildings on the property told a tale of deferred maintenance, but it was a story he’d heard before.

“We usually buy things that are in a turnaround situation, and this is a challenge, no way around it,” Vernet said. But, since showing that he’s willing to put resources into the property, he’s also learned that the Lakes Region’s largest mall still has drawing power. Since taking ownership, he said they’ve added eight new tenants, some of whom are still building out their storefronts, while others are already open for business. Several more prospects are “lurking,” as he said, including one national outdoor retailer that is negotiating on a lease for one of the larger spaces.

The new tenants include a range atypical for interior malls. There’s a radio station, chiropractor, an adult day care center, a skin care business and an RV parts store. He said about a third of the storefronts are still available. He’s specifically hoping to get two or three food and drink tenants, such as a breakfast-and-lunch spot, and maybe a sports bar.

Interesting and surprising to Vernet is that the interior spaces of the mall have drawn more interest than those with exterior entrances.

Vernet said it seems as though there was latent demand for space at the mall, and all it took was a management team who could provide a worthy home for businesses.

“I think a lot of people were waiting for us to do something,” Vernet said. “The last two owners didn’t do anything, they didn’t even clean the place.”

The new tenants

The entrepreneurs who signed a lease with Vernet said they were motivated by calculations such as location and storefront size, as well as emotional connections to the mall.

Troy Kennett, owner of Kennett Equipment Services, has been running his RV service and repair business out of Belmont. He decided to rent a space in the mall as both a retail shop for RV items as well as a dispatch center for his repair service.

Kennett said there are more than 50 RV parks in central New Hampshire, and no other stores that specialize in RV parts, supplies and accessories. At Belknap Marketplace, he and his wife Lisa can offer such a store that is easy for customers to get to, and, he said, “the people that are here, management and ownership, are wonderful.”

KES RV Supply is shooting for a Saturday, April 29, opening, with a grand opening on Saturday, May 13.

In the next storefront, Kate’s Candles, owned by Stora Kamens, is also in its build-out phase. Kamens said she will be selling candles as well as “high-end gifts” that customers will be able to arrange into gift boxes.

“I came over here on a really snowy day. I wasn’t anticipating going in here, and when I saw the space I knew it was right,” Kamens said, adding that her husband pointed out all of the improvements that Vernet was initiating. “We’re really excited to get in on the ground floor.”

Craig Hokansen, a chiropractor, said he liked the location as well as the “vision of the owners” to offer spaces for professional services and not exclusively retail.

One of those service professionals is Stephanie Groleau, owner of “Skin Therapy by Stephanie,” previously located in Gilford. She said she spent many hours “as a kid, running up and down the hallways” of the Belknap Mall, never imagining that she would be running a business there.

“Honestly, because I am from the Lakes Region, I wanted to be part of the rebirth of the former Belknap Mall,” Groleau said.

Krystal Webb is a 20-year veteran of the hair styling business, and she decided the Marketplace was the best spot for her to start her own shop, Paint Hair Salon. Part of it was its proximity to her home, and part was due to nostalgia, she said.

“I’m a Belmont resident. I used to come to this mall as a kid. I thought it would be great to have a business so close to home.” Webb said it’s been “awesome” as a space for her shop. “We’ve been super busy.”

Regional impact

Karmen Gifford, president of the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, sees “wonderful opportunities” for the development of the property. “I’m excited to see the changes that are taking place,” she said, noting that the chamber recently hosted a career fair there.

“It would be nice to see a restaurant, brewery or something that draws consumers for an experience,” Gifford said. “Climaxe Throwing is a great example.”

The Marketplace could serve as a new business incubator of sorts, she said.

“It offers great parking, safe indoor access, a venue for pop-up shops and it is accessible and centrally located,” said Gifford.

Justin Slattery, executive director of the Belknap EDC, said it’s “exciting” to see fresh investment in such a large, visible property.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for savvy businesspeople to be located on that property, and that’s great for Belmont and for the Lakes Region,” Slattery said, noting that the mixed-use property has space for different types of businesses. “I think there will continue to be a need for those type of properties to serve the community, to provide retail shops that can really have that local connection.”

“It will continue to be an economic driver, which is exciting to see,” Slattery said.