63 Park Street, Andover, MA

Situation

63 Park Street in Andover, MA has been under the management of Bell Tower Commercial Real Estate Group since April 2022. The owner of the building purchased the property in November of 2021 and is also a tenant. Bell Tower CRE Group has created a close working relationship with the client, providing property management services, project management services and re-imagining the marketing of the property to secure new tenants.

As the property manager, Gary Sidell, President of Bell Tower Commercial Real Estate Group, and Jeana DeBenedetto, Sales Agent and Marketing Coordinator, were focused on making sure all properties were as prepared as possible for the record-setting cold forecast.

The night before the record-setting cold was predicted, Sidell met with the owner of the building for a walk-through, checking the heat and thermostats in all areas of the building. With the owner headed out of town, Gary reassured the owner that they would be checking the building the next day. On Saturday morning the owner’s children checked the property as did Jeana DeBenedetto of Bell Tower CRE Group. Sidell then checked the building again in the afternoon. All checks showed no problems.

Mid-afternoon the Andover Fire Department contacted Jeana, informing her that there was a water break at 63 Park Street. Gary was just minutes away from the property and headed back immediately. The last call a property manager wants to receive is one from the local fire department, but as property managers, they are always ready for that possibility.

When Gary arrived along with the Andover Fire Department, they located the source of the problem. A sprinkler head broke causing water to flow through the building. Water was throughout the third floor and made its way to the elevator shaft and pit. The damage to the second floor was fairly significant with fallen ceiling tiles and soaked carpet areas; the first-floor tenant had carpet and wall damage, as well as some damp ceiling tiles.

Services Provided by Bell Tower CRE Group

Each minute in a crisis is crucial and as a seasoned property management professional Gary Sidell knew that. Within 20 minutes, the water was shut off, preventing any further damage to the building.

During this time, Gary contacted the owner of the building to explain the situation and reached out to his trusted resources on a Saturday afternoon to leap into action and address the situation.

By late afternoon, Superior Fire Protection Inc. of Hooksett, NH replaced the sprinkler head, recharged the system and reset the fire panel.

An elevator technician from Stanley Elevator Company Inc. was onsite quickly and shut down the elevator system, evaluated the elevator panels and cleaned up inches of water in the elevator shaft with the help of Servpro of Lawrence.

Servpro of Lawrence answered the call and led the effort cleaning up the water. Within hours they were running fans and dehumidifiers on Saturday to dry out the building and minimize damage.

On that frigid Saturday, the immediate work was completed within hours: the sprinkler head was replaced, the building’s fire alarm system was back online and all tenants had been notified of the situation.

Delivering Value

The end result is there was minimal impact for the tenants of 63 Park Street. On the Monday following the event, an alternative space was identified within the building for one tenant while her space was to undergo a complete refinishing effort. Due to the responsiveness of Bell Tower CRE Group and their partner relationships, the amount of damage was minimized.

For the owner of the building, there is a silver lining. In short order, the building was operational, tenants did not suffer much downtime which could have led to rent abatements.