New Investor Group Builds $10M Hometown Portfolio

Fountain House, built in the 1700s, is fully leased, with Starbucks and a law firm sharing the ground floor, law offices on the second floor and seven rental apartments above. The mix is typical of properties in the DIG portfolio. DIG began by acquiring a partially occupied three-story building at Six E. Court St., which it since leased to a Primo Hoagies shop on the ground floor and an office user on the second, joining an existing residential tenant on the third. The retail rental rate is $38 per sf, and the office space rents for $25 per sf, according to Fitzmartin.

At 76 and 78 S. Main St., an adjacent vacant lot and small building, DIG is building a two-story, 5,000-sf building with ground-floor retail and office space above. Fitzmartin tells GlobeSt.com a gourmet pizza shop is taking the ground floor at $28.50 per sf, "and we're negotiating the office space now at the same rental rate."

Meanwhile, DIG has attracted a network of 50 high-net-worth individual investors and drawn two original investors, Pat Kelly and Jennifer Calvanese, all Doylestown residents, into its management. Fitzmartin, who manages the acquired properties, also formed DIG Construction and Court Street Abstract, a title company. "By putting everything in house, DIG maintains control of its assets," Fitzmartin says, adding that both subsidiaries also do work for third parties, creating additional revenue streams for DIG investors.

"We saw opportunities here and plan to continue to look locally," he says. While continuing to acquire and redevelop downtown assets, however, DIG has a 2.5-acre, commercial-zoned parcel in neighboring New Britain Borough under agreement and just acquired 10 acres in Milford Twp.