The Appletree Mall at 4 Orchard View Drive was put on the public auction block on Monday afternoon, July 24, and when the gavel dropped, the bank holding the morgage bought the property for $6.2 million.
Mark Beaudoin, an associate with the law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP, made the final bid. Beaudoin was representing Torchlight Loan Services, a special servicer of the bank, which holds the note for the property and was listed as the seller at the auction.
There were just over a dozen potential buyers and spectators attending the auction on the rather wet and soggy afternoon, with very few ever making an offer.
Auctioneer, Jim St. Jean of James R. St. Jean Auctioneers, started the bidding off at $5 million and only reached the final price after about six bids.
The 191,105-square-foot retail shopping plaza’s assessed value is $15,607,500 and is commercially-zoned with its major tenant being Shaw’s Supermarket. According to the description sheet available at the auction, the building’s 2016 taxes were $335,561.
The mall is currently 47 percent occupied by 14 tenants, according to St. Jean’s summary, and was built in 1982. Three of the mall’s larger spaces, including HomeGoods, T.J. Maxx, and Goodwill, have still yet to be filled.
The terms of the auction required that the winning bidder give a $50,000 deposit by cash or certified check with an additional deposit to increase total deposit to 10 percent of bid price, which would be due within ten business days.
The plaza, anchored by Shaw’s Supermarket, was first scheduled to be auctioned off on January 27. That auction was postponed to Tuesday, February 28, and finally hit the auction block on Monday, July 24.