The owners of a sports retailer with outlets in Avon and Bristol recently paid $1.3 million for a Burlington industrial building for use as a warehouse and office space. Bob’s Sport Chalet owners Bill and Belinda Gonsalves, acting through a limited liability company, bought a 23,975-square-foot industrial building on 6.2 acres at 713 George Washington […]
The owners of a sports retailer with outlets in Avon and Bristol recently paid $1.3 million for a Burlington industrial building for use as a warehouse and office space.
Bob’s Sport Chalet owners Bill and Belinda Gonsalves, acting through a limited liability company, bought a 23,975-square-foot industrial building on 6.2 acres at 713 George Washington Turnpike. The sale was recorded Jan. 31.
Brendan Gonsalves, manager of Bob’s Sports Chalet, said the retailer needs warehouse space for its brisk internet sales.
“We have no room to operate, to receive product, to pack things up, to ship things and do returns,” Gonsalves said. “All of it has become too tight, too small.”
Gonsalves said his father eyed “a couple” locations, and the Burlington building was the best fit. It has a loading dock and ample office space for shipping, packaging and handling IT functions.
“This one fit the bill the best,” Gonsalves said.
The property was sold by R&S Capital LLC, whose principals are Richard and Susan Lamothe of Burlington.
Richard Lamothe runs a small manufacturing shop at the George Washington Turnpike building. Its products include bullet traps, which are used to stop and capture projectiles at gun ranges.
Bullet Trap USA will continue manufacturing in a section of the building under a short-term lease with the new owners, said Robert Gaucher, the senior sales associate with OR&L Commercial who brokered the deal.
Gaucher said the available stock of suitable small- to mid-sized industrial warehouse space is “extremely tight.” He received inquiries from companies as far away as New York City. That market is being propelled, in part, by companies needing space to stockpile material due to clogged supply chains, Gaucher said.
“People are looking for a building to house things because you can’t find product,” Gaucher said. “We had three bids on this building. A year-and-a-half ago this would never have happened. Two years ago, that would never have happened. Now you try to find buildings, you can’t find them.”
