Laconia, Conway Harley-Davidson unaffected by financial deal

MEREDITH — Steve and Anne Deli of Chicago, who have owned Laconia Harley-Davidson and White Mountain Harley-Davidson for the past 10 years, have completed a long-term sale leaseback for the property, but there will be no change in operations.

The broker for the transaction, Colliers International and Colliers New Hampshire, announced the sale yesterday, saying the two-property transaction with a publicly traded real estate fund had taken place on March 30.

Steve Deli said, “All we’ve done is refinanced the buildings. We had a mortgage on the dealership before, and we paid off the mortgage by selling the property and leasing it back immediately. It’s just a different mechanism.”

Deli said that type of financial arrangement is common among automobile dealerships, especially when interest rates are low, but he had not been aware of it until this opportunity came up.

“It makes no difference whatsoever to the operations,” he said. “We’re leasing with the right to buy it back at the end of the lease. Lots of places are really financed this way without people realizing it.”

Laconia Harley-Davidson, located at 239 Daniel Webster Highway in Meredith, is a 42,425-square-foot dealership. White Mountain Harley-Davidson, located at 1275 White Mountain Highway in North Conway, is a merchandise store that the Delis purchased to take advantage of the demand for Harley products in the Mount Washington Valley and into western Maine.

In a 2008 interview with The Laconia Daily Sun following their purchase of what then was Meredith Harley-Davidson, Anne Deli said they chose this area because of the popularity of Laconia Motorcycle Week. The June event in the Lakes Region is the oldest of the three big rallies — Laconia, Daytona, and Sturgis — and she said that resonated with virtually everyone they interviewed in doing their market research.

The Delis also own Orlando Harley-Davidson, and Steve Deli said the Florida dealership is not affected by the New Hampshire transaction.

Stephanie Roberts, the communications manager with Colliers, confirmed, “Since this was merely an investment sale, both the Harley-Davidson dealership and merchandise store will continue to operate as is for the foreseeable future.”