MANSARD brokers sale of 24,225 s/f Seabrook office building after uncovering hidden zoning constraint

Seabrook, NH MANSARD negotiated the $900,000 sale of 135 Folly Mill Rd., a 24,225 s/f office building. The property sold in an all-cash transaction with no financing contingencies, closing just 30 days after the conclusion of an accelerated auction process that generated seven qualified bidders.

The sale marks the final exit for two business partners who purchased the building in 2007, renovated it in 2009, and operated their company, Superior Controls and E-Tech Group, from the location for 18 years. After selling the operating business and retaining the real estate, the partners retained MANSARD to advise on their exit strategy.

Before bringing the property to market, MANSARD conducted a Strategic Asset Evaluation, which uncovered a critical constraint: the town had rezoned the parcel from commercial to R2 residential in 2015. The owners were unaware of the change, which had effectively rendered the commercial use non-conforming.

“The biggest mistake owners make is going to market before they understand what they actually have,” said Jeremy Cyrier, CRE, CCIM, founder of MANSARD. “If the owners had listed this property without knowing about the 2015 rezoning, they would have faced deal-killing discoveries during buyer due diligence. Knowing the constraint first allowed us to build a strategy around it.”

The zoning challenge, combined with a post-COVID office market recession, prompted MANSARD to reject three separate developer proposals to option the property for up to a year while seeking zoning relief. Instead, MANSARD executed a structured, accelerated auction targeting owner-users and value-add investors capable of navigating the zoning environment without contingencies.

The strategy yielded a clean exit for the retiring owners, allowing them to monetize the asset on their terms without the delays and risks associated with developer option agreements.