March 2007 - Massaro Properties, LLC recently completed a real estate study for the Capuchin Franciscan Friars. The Capuchin Friars are a religious order catering the needs of the underprivileged and are located in Lawrenceville. Recently they purchased the former Our Lady of Angels School adjacent to their friary, yet were unaware of what real estate options were available for the building. The Capuchins called upon Massaro to asses the building’s “real estate potential.”

We began by utilizing our in-house architect and space planner. They began by drafting the building and all of its floors in CAD, a computer aided drafting program.

Next Massaro contacted the Lawrenceville Economic Development Corporation to begin to determine the area’s real estate value. We discovered what was happening in the neighborhood, what type of real estate was selling, statistics on sales in the real estate market and the long term vision for Lawrenceville.

Massaro also met with a number of developers to determine the kind of real estate being developed in the area. We spoke to real estate appraisers to determine the area market value and comparable sales for “like-kind” property.

We ranked the real estate options in order of “highest and best use” and included a complete building estimate for each option. Also included was the value of the building if sold “as-is.” Once all of the information was gathered we gave the friars a comprehensive real estate study to use in making an informed real estate decision in regards to their newly purchased property.