Prince Street Market sold to Halifax businessman
A Halifax businessman with personal and professional ties to Cape Breton has purchased the Prince Street Market property in Sydney for $430,000.
Dimitri Neonakis, who owns several pieces of real estate in the
Sydney area, is president and
CEO of Alexandra’s Franchise
Inc. and Siem
Rep Ltd., a real estate holding company.
The Prince Street Market emerged as a home of budding entrepreneurs, some of whom brought a Bohemian vibe to the building bought by businessman Jim Matthews in 2014.
Matthews, originally from Sydney Mines, was found dead in his apartment on the third floor on Aug. 29, 2017. A New Waterford man has been charged with second-degree murder in his death.
Neonakis, 55, immigrated to Canada from Greece in 1984. He was drawn to Nova Scotia by his then-wife and started to build his life with four children living in Halifax. He began to invest in Cape Breton real estate in 2015, buying eight other properties.
“I looked at it, I liked it and the numbers made sense. I put an offer in and I bought it,” Neonakis said of the deal to buy the Prince Street Market.
Other than repairing the Prince Street Market sign, he doesn’t have any radical plans for the building that houses several businesses on its first and second floors.
In meeting the tenants, Neonakis said he reassured them the philosophy of the market being a gathering place of likeminded entrepreneurs would continue unchanged.
“(The tenants) are wonderful people, great professionals. Of course, whenever you buy a new building the tenants are really nervous of what you’re planning to do. And so far, I’m planning no changes. (I’m) just trying to help the local people, local economy and hopefully we’ll grow,” he said.
Along with two eating establishments on the ground floor — Doktor Luke’s coffeehouse and The Mermaid Kitchen restaurant — there is a yoga studio, insurance office, a holistic wellness room and a Saturday children’s music program on the second floor.
Matthews set up a stylish 1,880-squarefoot apartment with modern amenities on the third floor that he used when he was in town on business or visiting family and friends.
The building, located at 54 Prince St., was listed for sale Aug. 30 for $499,900. Matthews owned the building along with his business partners, John Tompkins and Justin McDonough, of the Halifax-based firm Matthews McDonough Financial Planning Inc.
Matthews’ sister, Joanne Jardine, has acted as the building manager for the Prince Street Market over the past year.
Jardine had been meeting with potential buyers for the property over the past couple of months.
“It was an amazing amount of support from the tenants while we were going through that process. I think they’re all settled in and the new owner, I think, will do great things for the building,” she said.
Neonakis’s history with Cape Breton dates back more than 30 years.
“I got married to a girl that was from Cape Breton but lived in Halifax. My honeymoon was in Cape Breton and I fell in love (with the island) back in the 1980s,” he said, adding it’s a “great place” to do business.
Earlier this year Neonakis brought his charity Dream Wings to the Sydney airport, where he offered children and their families opportunities to fly with him in his Cherokee light aircraft.
He has offered flights at airports in Halifax; Trenton, Pictou County; and on Prince Edward Island over the past couple of years. He has held his private pilot’s licence for 20 years.
Over the summer, he made 60 flights in Sydney, carrying more than 110 children and their families on board. In one example, Neonakis spoke of an 11-year-old boy’s dream to become a pilot.
“He doesn’t know his chances are zero. I do, but he doesn’t. So, I make his dream come true. I go flying with him.
“And I’ve flown with him four times so far. And I give him control and he flies by feel. It’s a wonderful feeling to have this child who, he won’t have the opportunity to sit on the right seat of an aircraft in a cockpit.”
There’s a waiting list of 70 families looking to take their children for a flight. Neonakis said he’ll look to continue Dream Wings in Sydney in April.