Recon professionals in the news
Century 21 Circa 72 is once again under the leadership of Steve DeStefano, who has repurchased the agency to restore its mission to fostering personal relationships and supporting the New Hampshire community. This decision follows a period of external ownership by North East, and DeStefano will now refocus the brand on its community principles.
Torrington Properties — a commercial real estate development, investment and property management company with an office in Portsmouth —has hired Jordan Recine as the company’s new general manager for its commercial real estate portfolio. Recine was previously an assistant vice president and general manager for Hobbs Brook Real Estate, and also an assistant property manager at Barkan Management Company.
Jennifer Gagne has joined Sullivan Construction, LLC, as project manager. She was most recently the director of project management, where she led construction management and contract negotiation efforts for four years. Additionally, she is certified in quality control by the U.S. Army Corps Engineers and has completed the OSHA 30-Hour Construction certification from ClickSafety.
Co-location plan for Antioch, Keene State on hold
Construction of Antioch University New England’s new facility on Keene State’s campus is on hold due to financial constraints, according to a joint news release from the two schools.
“Construction costs for the designed Antioch building proved to be substantially higher than anticipated,” said William Groves, chancellor of Antioch University. “Over the past years, costs for materials and labor, as well as for borrowing money more than doubled the estimated expense.”
Antioch University is a private graduate school with additional campuses in Ohio; Seattle; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Los Angeles. Its New England campus in Keene offers master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as professional and continuing education in fields such as counseling, psychology, education and environmental studies.
In June 2022, Antioch sold its campus at 40 Avon St. to Monadnock Family Services, a nonprofit community mental health center. Antioch will continue to lease space from the nonprofit in that building, as well as other locations in Keene, according to the release.
A plan to construct a new building for Antioch’s New England programs at the corner of Main and Winchester Streets was announced in September 2022 in a joint news release from Antioch University and Keene State.
Antioch is exploring different options for its new facility at existing spaces in Keene, including on Keene State’s campus, Groves said.
“Our goal is to create a high-quality learning environment that supports the needs of our students and the needs of the community,” he said. “We will explore all options that move us closer to achieving this in Keene.”
The previously proposed location was the home of Keene State’s Monadnock and Randall residence halls, which were demolished earlier this year. Once Keene State had finished the demolition, Antioch was slated to begin the construction of a two-story facility, which was expected to be 40,000 to 50,000 square feet, per previous Sentinel reporting.
The Winchester Street space will be temporarily repurposed to create a temporary parking lot for students, primarily commuters, according to Keene State President Melinda Treadwell.
“We are still actively involved in working with Antioch on this plan,” Treadwell said. “Having them near or on our campus enhances opportunities for all of our students.” — James Rinker, Keene Sentinel
The sign in front of the Pleasant Lake Estates in Warner that the residents now own. (Photo by Geoff Forester, Concord Monitor)
Manufactured home residents purchase their park, forming the 151st co-op in N.H.
Heather Otten never thought she’d be a homeowner. When she moved into a single-wide manufactured house in Warner, she was 20 years old with no credit, a newborn and her second child on the way.
Now, 14 years later, she’s a partial owner of the 33-home park on Pleasant Lake in Warner, after residents formed a cooperative to purchase the property their houses sit on. Park owners, Peter and Terri Wyman, approached residents about the sale, hoping to fend off out-of-state investors who may have priced residents out otherwise.
The $2.3 million sale was finalized at the end of August. With it, Otten watched her neighbors take a sigh of relief as the park became New Hampshire’s 151st resident-owned community.
“Everyone just collectively relaxed after the sale went through and they know that they have some control in the situation,” she said. “You always kind of worried because you were on someone else’s land.”
Owning a manufactured house means having a stake in the structure but renting the land that it sits on, with monthly costs left to the discretion of park owners. When the lot rent goes up, some are priced out of their homes, while others are pigeonholed from selling, as prospective buyers do not want to take on high costs.
That fear always lingered in the back of Otten’s mind.
“A lot of people were concerned if a corporation had come in, if they would have been kicked off their lot and had to move their home or be priced out,” she said.
At Pleasant Lake Estates, the Wymans purchased the park and adjacent campsite 23 years ago. They envisioned that it would be the start of a family business, passed on to their daughter when they decided to retire.
That decision came this winter. But with kids, and a business of her own, keeping the park in the family wasn’t feasible for their daughter. Offers for the park trickled in.
An investor from New York was eager to buy. But as the Wymans weighed the decision, one question remained: What would happen to the residents, whose kids they’ve watched grow up over the last 20 years, and who became neighbors, family and friends?
The Wymans offered Otten a “rent to buy” option – putting monthly payments towards gaining full ownership of the property, and within four years, it was hers outright.
Owning a house meant she could install new beige siding to replace the barn red she disliked and build a shed for her family’s bikes. Her kids have a yard to play in, and a campground and lake to explore on site.
Out of the 33 homes in the park, 31 are cooperative members. With an ownership stake, they pay $660 a month, while nonmembers are charged $685.
To purchase the park, they began organizing in March with the help of New Hampshire’s Community Loan Fund, before closing in August.
To form a cooperative, park residents elected a leadership board of five members, who are also responsible for managing the campground business onsite.
And through trainings and guidance from the fund, they also established a governance structure as the new owners. The cooperative will hold annual membership meetings – to vote on bylaws and leadership – and have printed contracts for new members.
On the sign for Pleasant Lake Estates, a banner now hangs that reads “We own it!”
Soon, a new sign will be installed that honors their ownership with a new name – the Pleasant Pond Co-Op and Campground. — Michaela Towfighi, Concord Monitor
