From left: Dan Goldenson, Jane Gravel, and Gary Gravel stand outside Hilltop Stop in Damariscotta on Friday, June 24. Goldenson is buying the property from the Gravels, but Gary Gravel will continue to run the business. (J.W. Oliver photo)
A Bremen developer has finalized a deal to buy Hilltop Stop in Damariscotta, but both buyer and seller expect little change at the busy store.
Hilltop Stop’s present owners, Gary and Jane Gravel, will continue to operate the popular convenience store, deli, and gas station under the same name and with the same staff.
Dan Goldenson and his wife, Suzanne Goldenson, will own the property and the store under the name Lincoln Property Group LLC.
Dan Goldenson plans to add a public restroom and pave a gravel area to expand parking for the store and the adjacent redemption center, but Hilltop Stop customers will see little else in the way of change.
“Nothing’s going to change,” Gary Gravel said. “I’m still going to be opening every morning – same food, same everything.”
The property at 374 Main St. extends from Chapman Street to Main Street and from the driveway to David Chapman Insurance Agency nearly to Clark Farm’s greenhouse.
Goldenson sees potential for further development of the parcel and plans to hire a planner to explore that potential.
The Gravels bought the empty store, formerly Big Dave’s, in September 2011; renovated; and opened later that year. The property also includes a stand-alone redemption center – now the Goldensons’ Bonus Redemption LLC.
The Goldensons and the Gravels started talking about the sale more than a month ago.
The Goldensons recently purchased the Corner Variety and Pizzeria property in Waldoboro from the Gravels, and during talks about the Waldoboro property, Dan Goldenson expressed interest in the Damariscotta property.
The Gravels were going to sell or step back from the store eventually anyway in order to avoid burnout and focus on other enterprises.
“We had a 10-year plan,” Gary Gravel said. “We’re going into our sixth year.”
The Gravels also own Supplies Unlimited across the street and about 15 residential rental properties, mostly in Lincoln County. Gary Gravel would like to eventually shift his focus to the management of their rental properties.
The sale of Hilltop Stop is “a good investment for Dan and a good opportunity for us,” Gary Gravel said.
Gary Gravel will continue to run the store for at least two years.
“It’s really a partnership of mutual interest,” Dan Goldenson said.
The Goldensons and the Gravels signed a contract June 22. The sale will close as soon as possible.
In addition to the Corner Variety and Hilltop Stop properties, the Goldensons also recently purchased The Bottle King mini-chain of three redemption centers. See “Bonus Redemption completes takeover of Bottle King” in this edition.
The Goldensons plan to build an addition onto the Corner Variety building to house a new restaurant.
Dan Goldenson is billing their recent acquisitions as “part of a major new economic revitalization effort … dealing with strategic properties and businesses” in Bremen, Damariscotta, and Waldoboro.
The Goldensons live at Twin Maples Farm in Bremen, their home for 20 years. Many in the Bremen-Waldoboro community know the couple for their work in land preservation.
“My friends say, ‘Daniel, you’re 72, you’re starting a whole new career,’ and the fact is that we are accelerating our involvement in local business and charitable activities as part of our family bucket list,” Dan Goldenson said. “We want to do it while we’re vital.”
Dan Goldenson is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in economics and public policy. He spent his career as a publisher of reference books and a developer of industrial real estate. “I refer to these as my inside and outside activities,” he said.
His career in development started in 1970, when he bought 10 acres of farmland next to an Amtrak station in Princeton, N.J. Over the next four years, he built a 100,000-square-foot office park. Later and on land nearby, he built a 50,000-square-foot research building for Lockheed Martin Corp. and a 40,000-square-foot building for Mathematica Policy Research.
From 1970-1986, he was the owner, general contractor, and manager of the properties. In 1986, he sold them to real-estate investment trusts from the U.K. and started a new career as a publisher of reference books.
“Here we are 30 years later and I’m going back into the real-estate business,” he said.
Goldenson said he was restless in semi-retirement and wanted to apply his interests and business expertise to projects that will benefit the community.
Suzanne Goldenson is a graduate of Douglass College at Rutgers University. She is a food writer and master gardener, sits on the Medomak Valley Land Trust Board of Directors, and is a former member of the Rising Tide Inc. Board of Directors.
In Princeton, the Goldensons’ longtime home before their move to Maine, she chaired the nonprofit Arts Council of Princeton. She started The Heirloom Tomato Sauce Co. in Bremen and sold her organic sauces in local specialty food stores until a few years ago.
From 2007-2010, the couple donated 180 acres on Bremen Long Island with more than a half-mile of oceanfront to the Medomak Valley Land Trust as a way to give the public access to the island. The land is now known as the Karl F. Berger Preserve.
The Goldensons also donated 50 acres of forest off Keene Neck Road in Bremen to the Maine Audubon Society 10 years ago for a bird sanctuary.
The Goldensons hosted the Medomak Valley Land Trust’s biggest annual fundraiser, the Summer Sizzle, at their barn in 2014 and 2015.
Dan Goldenson said they will continue their philanthropic efforts, with gifts to come in the areas of preservation and recreation.
