Council chooses local broker to list 311 building
A local real estate broker has been charged with finding a buyer for the former arts center at 311 W. Main St. i n Lansdale. David Caracausa of Coldwell Banker Premier Properties was awarded a con- tract Wednesday night to prepare a marketing plan for the controversial vacant building at the heart of Lansdale’s downtown.
“This is to put some information together for Mr. Caracausa to be able to properly develop a sale price, and to market the building,” said council President Leon Angelichio.
“He’ll also be doing some consulting duties on the best way to market it. He’s going to get information such as, what our code allows for people to do, what kind of things we would like to see in that building, do we have any deed restrictions, things
like that,” he said.
The contract between council and Caracausa was added to Wednesday night’s agenda after a brief executive session, and Angelichio said the terms are for Caracausa to perform 40 hours of work at a cost not to exceed roughly $9,000, plus to receive 6 percent of the ultimate sale price of the property.
“There are provisions in there related to various meetings, time frames, keeping council informed. Other than that, it’s a pretty standard agreement,” said borough Solicitor Sean Kilkenny.
The 311 building has been the subject of nearendless discussion in Lansdale over the past decade, as the former Masonic Temple built in the 1910s was acquired by the borough in the mid-2000s, operated as an arts center in 2009-10, and was closed by a new council in early 2010 due to safety concerns and operational issues. Council established a task force in 2012-13 to determine a new use for the building, and that task force recommended renovating the building for retail, restaurant, and arts uses, before a different council ultimately chose to sell the building in late 2014.
Between that vote to be-
gin the sale process and a decision by council to list the property earlier this year, Angelichio said, an assessment on the 311 building was done and established a value of roughly $635,000. That number may increase or decrease based on the possible uses, prospective buyers, and any repairs or other liabilities Caracausa finds in the process of preparing a listing, he said.
“Once Dave gets all of that information together, he can market to prospective buyers. Be they investors, private citizens, or whatever the case may be, he’ll do an assessment of what he feels an end result might be, and what those individuals might pay for a space like that,” said Angelichio.
“He’ll also take into consideration things like code
violations, what needs to be done to the building to bring it up to spec, because ultimately what an investor has to put into the building may effect what they’re willing to pay,” he said. The listing could also require that any investor preserve the historic Main Street facade of the building which council paid $250,000 to restore in 2013-14.
Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the contract with Caracausa, and Angelichio said he was council’s first choice among two agents who responded to a request for proposals for those interested in listing the property. Angelichio said part of the reason Caracausa was chosen was his background as a longtime area native, with family experience in
operating a local theater, and “the bulk of council would love to see an entertainment venue there.”
Updates on the listing will likely come to council via their administration and finance committee, Angelichio said, and the goal of the contract is to bring what he termed “a painless process” to wrap up a lengthy debate.
“Council felt that it was best to put the building in private hands, to have someone develop a plan, and hopefully bring a destination place to downtown Lansdale,” he said.
“That’s really the end goal, to get a destination place, and how you define ‘destination place’ — it could be a movie theater, it could be a restaurant, it
could be a group of small things — that’s exactly what Dave is going to work on for us,” Angelichio said.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Nov. 4 at the borough administration building, 1 Vine St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter.