A reader pointed out to us today that the Longfellow/McLellan exchange agreement we posted contains this passage:
The Town's inspection of the McLellan Property is currently in process. The Town shall provide Bowdoin with a copy of the inspection report but Bowdoin shall not be required to make any repairs or improvements that may be recommended thereby.
The agreement is dated September 2011, and was signed on October 4, 2011. As our reader said, “I would REALLY like to get a copy of this, and to find out who did the inspection, what they charged, and what they did and did not find..... “
This was a good catch on his part, and we’re disappointed in ourselves for not having caught it before he did. We may have been tending to a different spinning plate that was starting to wobble.
Let this post serve as notice to those involved that we will be seeking the documents related to that inspection.
On a different angle, we decided to see if we could estimate the value of the third floor lease we’ve given to Bowdoin College, as shown in the same agreement. It runs for 10 years, and is rent free. The landlord (that’s us, bubby) is responsible for everything except janitorial service.
The office space market in this area is a bit saturated with vacant space, so rents are lower than in recent years. We did speak with a knowledgeable individual today who says rents range from a low of $8 per square foot (triple net) to up into the $13-15 range, just depending (per year).
From what we can tell, the third floor is about 11,500 square feet, meaning the fair market rent would be in the $100,000 and up per year range.
In other words, as part of the deal, we’re giving Bowdoin College a $1 million (or more) ‘in kind’ donation via the exchange agreement, in addition to Longfellow School.
Deals is deals, we suppose. We’re sure those representing us in the ‘negotiations’ drove a hard bargain, as they always do. Especially when the shrine to the 1% is the other party.
Town history is weplete with examples of how we hoodwinked those wascally wascals over at the college.
If you don’t care for an innocent view of things, you can always go with the more adult version.
Now THAT’S a bargain you can drive.
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