Two projects that will have great impacts on their respective communities came to fruition last month: a grocery store in Johnson and the nation’s first ‘Small Market Test’Panera Bread in Berlin. Pomerleau Real Estate was instrumental in the success of both.
Pomerleau worked with state officials, prospective tenant Mike Comeau and local agencies and officials to ensure the town of Johnson regained a grocery store after the downtown Grand Union was all but destroyed by flooding in 2011. Ernie Pomerleau says they had lots of interest in the site, but that they held out for a tenant who wanted to put in a grocery store.
‘One of our cornerstone principals is stimulating economic development in local communities,’says Ernie Pomerleau. ‘We are proud to be able to partner with towns to encourage growth, and better Vermont as a whole.’
Pomerleau says without the collaborative effort put forth by everyone involved, Johnson would not be getting this important community fixture, and that this is a classic example of a successful public/private partnership. The store will employ about 40 people.
Pomerleau also worked to bring Panera Bread, Jo-Ann Fabrics and a new Bouchard-Pierce store to Berlin in an effort to stimulate an economic rebound in a community that was severely impacted by the 2011 flooding.
The Berlin Panera Bread is the first small-market location in the country. With a population of about 2,900, Berlin is about half the size of Panera’s preferred market. As Panera’s representative in Vermont, Pomerleau saw an opportunity to work with the corporation, the town of Berlin, state officials and neighboring property owners to bring the bakery-café style restaurant to central Vermont. The location will employ about 30 people.
Company patriarch Tony Pomerleau started his business over 70 years ago when he borrowed $3,000 to buy several neighborhood grocery stores. When the supermarket chains began to threaten his stores, he adapted: Pomerleau shifted his business to that of owning properties to rent to the big chains. He went on to create one of the largest full-service commercial real estate firms in the state.
Pomerleau Real Estate now manages over 2 million square feet of commercial space ‘ and supports over 30 organizations, boards and foundations across Vermont, including COTS, the Queen City Police Foundation, and Burlington City Arts. The company is committed to working with communities to better Vermont, and is proud to help facilitate public/private partnerships that will benefit individual communities, and the state as a whole.
Pomerleau. 6.10.2013