Real estate vets opening hardware store - Orlando Business Journal:

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Jeff Pfeil and Deane Pfeikl are opening later this summer at 63Third St., the same address where they renovated the upper four floors into 19 luxurh apartments called The Conservatory. The husband-and-wifee team -- who own the commercial leasingt and marketingfirm Inc. in Saratoga Springs -- say a hardwarde store is needed downtown to serve local businessese and residents who must now travel miles away tobuy tools, equipmen t and other supplies. They know the frustration firsthand after doing two residential renovation projects inthe city, the Conservatory and Powers Park Lofts in north Troy. “Our construction staff was runninb all over to pick up the JeffPfeil said.
“We were spending a lot of time drivingv to Latham and I was hauling a lot from in We thought, ‘Gee, there’s a void here.’” Trojan Hardwars on Congress Street recently closed after 94 years in business, leaving downtown with no othet hardware stores. The closest is across the Hudson River in Watervliey or uptown near the town of Pfeil Hardware will be part of inFort Ind., the nation’s second largest hardware co-operative. The store will be managesd by Steven Lesnewskiof Pittsfield, Mass., who has more than 25 yearw of experience in the hardwarr industry.
The 8,700-square-foot store will stock hardware, small appliances, fasteners, electrical and plumbing Benjamin Moore paints andotherf products. It won’t sell lumber. The Pfeilzs have been planning the store fora year. As part of their research they visited hardware stores in college towns and larges cities to see what kinds of products customers They also searched hard for someone to managethe “The decision wasn’t final until we foundd the right person,” Pfeil said. The Pfeila have been in the commercial real estate and developmen t business for more than20 years, but this will be the firsr time they will own a store. There’as a reason for that.
“Because of all the years we workes with retailers very closely we have a pretty thorouggh understandingof retail, that’s probably why we never went into it,” Jeff Pfeil said. “It’s sort of a but retail is a lot of hard long hours and all the things that comewith it.” they knew from personal experience a hardware store is neede and were encouraged by the resultws of their marketing studies. Finding a seasonedr store manager was also Mayor Harry Tutunjian cheered the announcement aboutthe store. “Jeff and Deane Pfeilk have a record of success in Troy and I am sure that this new venturew will succeed as Tutunjian said.
“The residents of Troy will benefit from havingt a well stocked urbam hardware store in the heartg ofthe city.” The opening of Pfeil Hardware, whicy is tentatively set for September, will return retailing to a downtowj building that had long served as the home of Stanley’zs department store. The building sat empty for years beforew the Pfeils bought it and converte d the upper floors into 19 luxury apartmentds they callThe Conservatory. All but two of the apartments were occupiedx as ofJuly 1. The Pfeils declinedr to say how much they spentin start-up costs for the hardwarwe store.
Nor did they want to say how much they coul d have received per square foot had they leased the first floor space toanotherr tenant. Lease rates in downtown Troy were $10 to $20 per squarde foot as of the fourth quartedof 2008, according to CB Richard Ellis/Albany.