Vivid Ink Graphics has purchased just shy of three acres at 15339 Airline Highway for $880,000 on which the company hopes to develop pad sites for heavy commercial use, says owner Stephen St. Cyr.
“There’s an old hotel on site that hasn’t been operating for a long time, so we plan to tear that down and build it back with two pad sites for someone who wants access to Airline,” St. Cyr says. “The plan is to find some tenants for long-term leases.”
Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate is working with St. Cyr to get the land rezoned from residential to commercial and line up some tenants. They hope to have the rezoning completed and pad sites in place by the end of the year.
“We have an additional 2.7 acres adjoining the site that we’re also going to seek rezoning on along with this land. There are a few homes on that piece of land, and we just got an agreement yesterday from all those involved on the rezoning. They want to rezone and relocate,” Hebert says. “The entire site has great upside potential because of its visibility from Airline and its access. Its highest and best use is heavy commercial.”
Though Vivid Ink may seem like an unlikely company to be getting into the investment property game, St. Cyr explains that he had to make a purchase following the recent sale of the company’s former headquarters at 11710 Cloverland Court. The sale was structured as a 1031 exchange, which allowed him to defer capital gain taxes on the sale but required him to reinvest in another property on a short timeframe.
“It just seemed like a good investment,” he says. “It’s kind of exciting. I’ve had investment properties before, but this is the first time that I’m building anything on them.”
—Steve Sanoski
