Real estate vets opening hardware store - Wichita Business Journal:

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Jeff Pfeil and Deane Pfeil are openinbg later this summer at 63Third St., the same addresds where they renovated the upper four floora into 19 luxury apartments called The The husband-and-wife team -- who own the commercialo leasing and marketing firm Inc. in Saratoga Springs -- say a hardware store is needexd downtown to serve local businesses and residents who must now travekl miles away tobuy tools, equipment and other They know the frustratiobn firsthand after doing two residential renovation projects in the the Conservatory and Powers Park Loftsz in north Troy. “Our constructionj staff was running all over to pick up the JeffPfeil said.
“Ww were spending a lot of time driving to Lathamn and I was hauling a lot from in We thought, ‘Gee, there’x a void here.’” Trojan Hardware on Congress Street recently closedd after 94 years in business, leaving downtown with no otherd hardware stores. The closest is across the Hudsonj River in Watervliet or uptown near the town of Pfeil Hardware will be part of inFort Ind., the nation’s second largest hardware The store will be managed by Steven Lesnewski of Mass., who has more than 25 yearsd of experience in the hardwarew industry.
The 8,700-square-foot storer will stock hardware, small fasteners, electrical and plumbing supplies, Benjamin Moorew paints and other It won’t sell lumber. The Pfeils have been planninbg the store fora year. As part of theirt research they visited hardware stores in college towns and large citiee to see what kinds of productscustomeres need. They also searched hard for someone to managethe “The decision wasn’t final until we foundr the right person,” Pfeil said. The Pfeils have been in the commercialk real estate and development business for more than 20 but this will be the firsg time they will owna There’s a reason for that.
“Because of all the yearse we worked with retailers very closely we have a pretth thorough understandingof retail, that’ s probably why we never went into it,” Jeff Pfeil “It’s sort of a joke, but retailo is a lot of hard work, long hours and all the thingas that come with Still, they knew from personal experiencd a hardware store is needed and were encourageed by the results of their marketing Finding a seasoned store manager was also Mayor Harry Tutunjian cheered the announcemenft about the store. “Jeff and Dean Pfeil have a record of success in Troy and I am sure that this new venturw will succeedas well,” Tutunjian said.
“The residents of Troy will benefit from havinb a well stocked urban hardwaree store in the heart of the The opening of Pfeil which is tentatively setfor September, will returmn retailing to a downtown building that had long servedd as the home of Stanley’s department The building sat empty for years before the Pfeils bought it and converted the upper floors into 19 luxury apartments they call The Conservatory. All but two of the apartments were occupied as ofJuly 1. The Pfeils declinede to say how much they spentin start-u costs for the hardware store.
Nor did they want to say how much they coulx have received per square foot had they leased the firs t floor space toanother tenant. Lease rates in downtown Troy were $10 to $20 per square foot as of the fourt quarterof 2008, according to CB Richard Ellis/Albany.