The Estate of Homer and Mary Short

A Family Business in Need of a Change

The Estate of Homer and Mary Short was charged with liquidating a 600,000 square foot parcel of commercial real estate located in Paintsville, Kentucky. This shopping center, which was developed over time by the patriarch of the family, Homer Short, required a buyer who understood the intricacies of the transaction as well as the emotional weight of the situation.

The Challenges

The sale of this particular piece of property was encumbered with multiple challenges from the regional terrain and demographics, to the family dynamics within the Short Estate.

The first of the challenges we faced was the region itself. Located in mountainous Eastern Kentucky, Paintsville is a difficult trade area to define for a retail center of this size. Convincing buyers of the value of the trade area was even more difficult, as Eastern Kentucky has a reputation of being economically depressed and difficult to access.

We also encountered unexpected challenges from the tenants of the property. K-Mart, one of the anchor tenants of the shopping center, announced they were closing their Paintsville location. The client was understandably concerned about this change.

Finally, we also had to help our primary contact person, Mark McKenzie, as he navigated the waters of satisfying the extended family in the management and sale of the property. Mark’s primary concern was treating the needs of the family in an honest, ethical, and financially responsible way.

The Solutions

We have to admit, this was a tricky one, but we have been able to ensure that everyone is happy with the outcome.

We teamed up with Berkeley Capital Advisors out of Charlotte, North Carolina to sell the property. They were able to underwrite the transaction with our assistance, and we valued the property as just below the appraisal number. We placed the property on the market and quickly received twelve offers.

We were able to interview and evaluate the two strongest offers from the bunch, and concluded that a company named Realtylink had made the best offer. We proceeded through contract negotiations with Realtylink, including making repairs and so on. The contract closed in a timely fashion, and throughout the process we were able to work with the Estate to make sure they were satisfied with how the entire sale process was proceeding.

The Results

Happily, we were able to sell the property at a price that exceeded the original appraisal, thus satisfying the concerns of the extended family. The sale also completed the majority of the estate, and the family was able to pay off the real estate taxes and provide financial liquidity to the family.

The most positive result for Dahlem has been the creation of an ongoing partnership between Mark McKenzie and ourselves. In his recent testimonial, Mark said, “We can’t say enough about Jim and Charlie’s representation… The property had a lot of moving parts, but the Dahlems took a personal interest in the process and saw it through to a successful sale. Jim and Charlie’s honesty and integrity, couple with their experience and industry relationships, make them an obvious choice for commercial property needs.”

We are excited to announce that we will be partnering with Mark on future projects, including the sale or lease of other parcels of land in the region.