Duprey Buys Capital Plaza Buildings, Depot Street Lot for $11M

CONCORD, NH — About a little more than 14 months ago, local media outlets were in a tizzy about how Brady Sullivan, one of the state’s larger commercial and residential development and real estate firms, was beginning to acquire properties in Downtown Concord, specifically, 1 Eagle Square and the Capital Plaza holdings, and at pretty reasonable prices, considering what previously landowners paid for the buildings. But just as quickly, it would seem, the company has sold one of those holdings – and it would appear, made a killing in the process.

Steve Duprey’s Firefox Property Management has purchased 1 and 2 Capital Plaza – the commercial buildings at 57-81 N. Main St. – as well as the parking lot at 8 Depot St., which is also part of the property’s holdings – for $11 million, more than double what Brady Sullivan paid for the building and lot in November 2015. The sale to Duprey closed on Jan. 31, 2017, according to the city’s assessing database site.

Brady Sullivan paid a little more than $4.65 million for the building and lot from Capital Plaza LLC, which purchased the building in July 2003 for $8.9 million.

“I bought Capital Plaza at a fair price – perhaps a bit high for the market, but a fair price,” Duprey said in an email on Feb. 19. “It is one of five signature office buildings in the downtown and the others all have very strong occupancy.”

The buildings, which were constructed in 1900 and renovated in the 1980s, feature more than 90,000 square feet of space on a little more than three-quarters of an acre lot. It has “some of the most significant law firms and businesses in Concord as tenants,” he stated, as well as Citizens Bank and other storefronts on both North Main Street and inside the plaza.

Duprey said the value of a commercial property isn’t what the seller bought it for but the value to the new owner. He stated that the previous owners – TIER REIT out of Texas, a company that also owned City Hall Plaza in Manchester – sold their four properties to Brady Sullivan in a group sale that was “way below their value, in my opinion,” while adding that “Shane Brady and Arthur Sullivan are very astute real estate pros and they recognized and seized a good value.”

In acquiring the holdings, he said that he thought the current tenants would enjoy the “great service” which “our property management firm is known for, and with some updating and polishing, this will continue to be the most important office asset in Concord.”

Duprey added that the building was close to the Statehouse, had great parking, and a great design, that preserved some important historical buildings in the city. He noted that the project was the first large commercial project that he worked on when he was hired at First Capital Bank (Concord National) to be a project representative on the venture with the company the renovated the project.

“It is a little unsettling to look (at) documents signed in 1983 and see my signature on those,” he said, adding, “I love Concord and I consider it a real honor to have the opportunity to own Capital Plaza.”

At the time, according to the National Information Center, Concord National Bank was located a few doors down, at 43 N. Main St. The bank was re-named First Capital Bank in 1986 and moved into 1 Capital Plaza in May 1987. The bank would later be re-named First NH Bank in 1991, would move to Manchester, and then became Citizens Bank New Hampshire in 1996.

Credit: Alexius Horatius via Creative Commons.