New Owner Plans Measured Approach For Framingham Arcade
PHOTO/BRANDON BUTLER
Vaios Theodorakos purchased the Framingham Arcade building in January and hopes to rehab it and rent it out to commercial tenants.
Vaios Theodorakos is a man with a plan.
The son of Greek immigrants, Theodorakos worked four jobs in high school and saved up enough money to buy his first property when he was 18.
Since then he's been buying up rundown properties in bad neighborhoods across Massachusetts, fixing them up himself and renting them out.
His company, VTT Management, named for his initials, now owns more than 4,000 apartment units across more than 30 buildings in a handful of states, including the 200-unit, 24-story Sky Mark Tower in downtown Worcester.
His newest venture: The defunct Arcade Building, which sits directly across the street from his offices in downtown Framingham. For years Theodorakos has looked out his window to see the building's old windows and deteriorating façade.
Theodorakos bought the building for $2.5 million on Jan. 18 from First Union Bank, which was one of two banks that owned the property through a foreclosure auction.
Now, Theodorakos hopes to rehab the interior and exterior and fill the building up. He has already rented out two offices there - one to a local plumber.
Local officials couldn't be more pleased.
Step By Step
Theodorakos's plan for the building is a far cry from what had originally been proposed to at the site.
In the mid-2000s a Newton-based development company - Framingham Acquisition LLC - planned to construct a multimillion mixed-use commercial and residential development at the downtown Framingham parcel. The development would have included a brand-new residential high-rise, a parking garage and commercial space.
Financing for the project fell through, however, and Framingham Acquisition LLC declared bankruptcy, halting the town's efforts to collect back taxes on the property that had accumulated to more than $700,000.
In late 2010, the two banks that held mortgages on the properties, Framingham Co-Operative Bank and First Union Trade Bank of Boston, repurchased the properties at foreclosure auctions.
Then, in mid-January Theodorakos purchased the property. The deed has not yet been filed in the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds office, but within weeks of the purchase more than $480,000 in back taxes on the parcels were repaid to the town. Taxes for 2011 are still owed, but not officially due until May.
Now, with ownership of the building and most of the taxes on the property paid, Theodorakos is moving forward.
Unlike the previous owners, Theodorakos doesn't have grand plans to spend millions of dollars razing the building and constructing a new high-rise.
Instead, Theodorakos is going to take a slow and steady approach.
In the coming weeks he hopes to have workers install new windows on the property. Once the weather is warmer he plans to install uniform signs and façades along the building.
The second floor of the Concord Street property is mostly office space, which Theodorakos hopes to rehab as well. He hopes to have more tenants in the coming weeks in the 56 individual 300-square-foot office spaces.
Local real estate executives are also taking notice.
"Vaios has been a phenomenal and inspirational owner who has developed his home-grown business," said Katherine Wellington, principal at Investment Property Specialists in Framingham.
She said the property's management, under Theodorakos's control is in a "whole new ballgame."
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