Changes are in the works at Hilltop Antiques, in the foreground at left, at 48 Water St. in downtown Skowhegan. A developer plans to buy the building and convert the second floor into five apartments. The antiques store is expected to remain open as it consolidates its operation on the first floor, while Lynette’s Cards & Gifts, also in the building, will close. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
SKOWHEGAN — Some of the more than 30 rooms of antiques at a Skowhegan store are set to become apartments.
Patric Moore of JPM, LLC is under contract to buy the 48 Water St. building occupied by Hilltop Antiques and Lynette’s Cards & Gifts, according to both Moore and Greg Salisbury, the current owner of both the building and the antiques business.
The Skowhegan Planning Board on Tuesday approved Moore’s plans to convert the second floor into five apartments.
Moore has no plans to develop the first floor, which Salisbury will rent to keep his antiques shop open once the deal closes, which is expected later this year. Lynette’s gift shop will close, according to Salisbury, whose wife, Linette Salisbury, runs that store.
On the second floor, Moore’s plans include a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments, a shared laundry facility, and upgrades to the fire suppression system, among other improvements.
“Maine is facing a historic shortage right now,” said Moore, an Air Force veteran who also works as the business relations manager and director of entrepreneurship for the nonprofit Main Street Skowhegan. “There’s a lot of empty second and third floors in these historic downtowns.”
Moore also owns 65 Water St., another building in Skowhegan’s downtown that has been recently adapted for mixed uses across its floors. That building houses Joe’s Flat Iron Café, Main Street Skowhegan’s office and two residential units.
The redevelopment at 48 Water St. will maintain the historical and architectural integrity of the building, which is over 100 years old, Moore said.
According to Moore, the overall cost of the renovation is estimated at $2 million. He and his business partner have already invested some of their own money, he said. But Moore is hoping that a subsidized loan from MaineHousing’s Rural Affordable Rental Housing Program will help with a significant portion of the cost.
A Morning Sentinel newspaper clipping from Nov. 28, 2002, shows Greg Salisbury, left, co-owner of Hilltop Antiques in Skowhegan, in the store at 48 Water St. A developer has plans to buy the building and put affordable housing on the second floor. Salisbury said this week he will continue to operate the antiques business on the building’s first floor.
Housing units developed under the state loan program must rent those units to residents earning 80% or less of the area median income level at rates determined to be affordable for those income levels. Those protections stay in place for 45 years.
Other developers in the Skowhegan area have recently used the same program to build new workforce housing.
Assuming the financing gets approved, the apartments are likely about two years from being completed, Moore said.
And Salisbury, the owner of Hilltop Antiques, said plans for his business haven’t been finalized yet. The sale, though under contract, is not expected to close until fall.
Salisbury, 73 and a lifelong Skowhegan resident, said he’s been dealing antiques and collectibles for 56 years, ever since he graduated high school.
Salisbury bought the Water Street store in 1999, he said. The plan then was for his wife to open a gift shop, Lynette’s, and for him to have space for his wholesale business.
“Next thing I knew, I had a store,” Salisbury said. “It wasn’t intended in the beginning.”
The business grew over the years and now has more than 30 rooms on three floors filled with antiques and other items. Though Salisbury said he personally collects early American antiques, the shop deals in everything. He also buys gold and silver, and in recent years, began selling items on online platforms like eBay and Etsy.
Glassware at Hilltop Antiques is displayed in a second-floor window at 48 Water St. in Skowhegan. A developer plans to buy the building and turn the second floor into apartments. The antiques store will consolidate its operation into the first floor. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Salisbury said he is now ready to slow down. Consolidating his shop to just a portion of the large building will give him more time to enjoy life outside the business, he said.
“I have no answers for sure what I’m going to do,” Salisbury said. “I just can’t walk away from it.”
But he does not plan to ever leave the business for good.
“I intend on doing a transaction in my last breath,” he said.
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