Fred Hayden heard it before. Hayden was told three times his building at 44 Broad St. would be taken by eminent domain to make way for a cross-Nashua roadway.

In 1997, 2001 and then, finally, 2008, Hayden was told he would have to sell the building and move his business, Nashua Outdoor Power Equipment, for the Broad Street Parkway, a construction project managed jointly by the state of New Hampshire and city of Nashua.

“This is the third time they said, ‘We’re taking the building,’?” Hayden said.

This time, it was true.

Hayden’s business reopened at 332 Amherst St. in January 2011.

Three of the other four businesses at 44 Broad St., a long, single-floor building that will be razed for Broad Street Parkway construction, also moved: Gregory J. Fine Flooring and Design, to 520 Amherst St.; Mayhem Ink, to 59 Main St.; and Aidan James Salon, to 36 Northwest Blvd. in Westside Plaza.

One tenant remains in Hayden’s former building, now owned by the state. That tenant, Wizard Cycle, is moving soon to 120 Northeastern Blvd.

Hayden spoke candidly about his experiences as a business owner. As a building owner and landlord to other tenants, however, he referred a reporter’s questions to his attorney, William Barry.

The process of eminent domain is laid out by state statute and includes an appeals process if the owner disagrees with the appraisal of the property’s worth, Barry said.

In the case of 44 Broad St., the process was conducted “in a professional and orderly manner with the interests of each side well represented,” Barry said.

According to city of Nashua records, the building and property at 44 Broad St. were acquired for $1.7 million.

Long time coming

Since a cross-city roadway was first discussed, it was a given that some businesses would have to move.

When the road was re-configured from four to two lanes in 2003, the number of businesses potentially affected decreased. But the impact began even before that change.

In October 1998, Nashua Industrial Machine Corp., or NIMCO, let some 50 employees go and planned to close the specialty machining and metal assembly shop. The end of the 50-year-old company came in part because of the imminent arrival of the parkway, owner Lester Gidge said in an interview at the time.

The state paid $1.2 million to NIMCO Real Estate Associates in June 2003 for the manufacturing plant on Pine Street Extension. Ultima NIMCO, a successor to the original company, now runs the metal fabrication facility.

Gidge died in March 2008.

NIMCO wasn’t the only business affected.

In 2000, Fimbel Paunet relocated its Nashua operation to a new facility in Merrimack.

The property, 24 Fox St., owned by Fimbel Door Corp., was the most expensive acquisition at some $1.9 million in purchase and relocation costs. The manufacturing end of the business moved to New Jersey and retail sales moved to Merrimack. Wreckers demolished the plant at a cost of $223,000.

Headache or nightmare

It can be a headache for a homeowner to have to pick up and move for the public good when a road comes through the neighborhood.

For a business, when increased expenses for moving equipment and advertising a new location are factored in, the headache can explode into a pounding migraine unless businesses receive advisory help.

For the help he received moving his business, Hayden praises Chip Johnson, of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation Bureau of Right of Way.

“If it wasn’t for him, the process would have been a nightmare instead of a headache,” Hayden said.

The process is tough, Hayden said, and requires a business to get a so-called “gap loans” because you have to move first, and then be reimbursed for expenses; obtain estimates from two movers, even if you plan to move equipment yourself, and movers are reluctant to give estimates for jobs they know they won’t get; find a new location suitable to your business’ needs; and navigate complex paperwork.

All the while, the business owner must keep his business running, Hayden said.

The state reimburses for the expense of moving, the “picking stuff up and putting it down,” Hayden said.

The amount of reimbursement is unlimited, but it’s determined by expenses submitted after the move. Thus, the need for gap loans – they bridge the gap until the state reimbursement check arrives, often months later.

Also, the state has a fund capped at $100,000 per business for other expenses, such as signage, advertising the new location, and physical adjustments to the buildings, such as creating a storefront if there isn’t one.

That may seem to be a good chunk of money, but it can be eaten up in a hurry, leaving other expenses unpaid, business owners say.

The drawn-out evolution of the Broad Street Parkway added its own set of headaches, Hayden said. Johnson helped by explaining the process, keeping him abreast of deadlines and helping to navigate the paperwork, he said.

“You can pick up the phone and call him and get answers when you need them,” Hayden said.

The process is as expensive as it is muddy, he said.

“If you don’t have a pocketful of money, it can be devastating to get through the process,” Hayden said.

It took Hayden five months to find a new location, and then more than a year to get it ready for the business to move into.

Moving a business because of an eminent domain is a full-time job, Hayden said.

“You’re not running your business anymore, you’re trying to survive,” he said.

Hayden understands why it’s sometimes necessary to acquire private property for the public good.

“Cities evolve. Towns evolve. Some projects are necessary,” he said.

Waiting game

Norman Parslow has owned Gate City Tire Co. since 1966. Most of that time, the business has been at its present location, 73 Broad St. The building and land it sits on will soon switch to city ownership to make way for the Broad Street Parkway.

Parslow also owns a gray house next door at 75 Broad St. He rents the house out to two tenants. That property also will be claimed, and the tenants will have to move.

Parslow has spent months in a holding pattern. Officials had been by to inspect the properties, and Parslow is waiting to hear back.

“They were supposed to give me an offer,” Parslow said.

“They” refers to officials of the city and the state, who are jointly working on property acquisition, Parslow said.

Parslow has known for a long time he’d have to move – “35 years,” he said. But in the on-again, off-again progression of the roadway, Parslow can be forgiven for harboring doubts the parkway would ever be built.

“I don’t even think it’s going to be,” Parslow said. “I don’t know what’s going on. I hear one thing from somebody, then something different from somebody else.

“Every time you talk to the state, it changes.”

When he does sell, Parslow will have to look for a new location for Gate City Tire. Unless, he said, he decides to retire.

That decision also is in a holding pattern because of the Broad Street Parkway, he said.

“Depends on the bottom dollar,” Parslow said. “I’ll be 63 next month. I’d like to work a couple more years, but I might retire. It depends on what they offer me.”

Tale of two brothers

Mike Martein, owner of Wizard Cycles, knows where he’s going. His brother, John Martein, owner of Mayhem Ink, is already where he’s going, and he isn’t happy about it.

Mike Martein’s motorcycle customizing and repair shop, Wizard Cycles, is the only remaining tenant at 44 Broad St. Martein already has a new location picked out, on Northeastern Boulevard, a larger space where he plans to expand his customizing operation, with the potential of hiring new employees.

“We hope to be over there by at least sometime in October,” Martein said.

He has no complaints with how the city and state have worked with him for the relocation.

“So far, it’s been fine,” he said. “They’ve been very fair to us at this point. They’ve been very reasonable.”

When Martein opened Wizard Cycle at 44 Broad St. in 1998, he knew there was a possibility he’d eventually have to move. But he took a wait-and-see approach, given the uncertain history of the roadway.

About every three years, Martein would be contacted by a city or state official who would say, OK, this is going to happen. There would be “loads of energy” exerted about the parkway, with businesses moving or preparing to move.

“Then we’d get a stay of execution again,” Martein said.

In the last three years, Martein heard again the parkway was a go.

“But we knew the history of the whole thing,” he said.

Now, with shovels in the dirt and plans for the roadway to open in two years, Martein is ready to move his business for real. But for Martein, as it was for his former landlord, Hayden, the hitch was he had to pay for the move out of pocket before he receives compensation from the state.

That delay in compensation was just one of the problems John Martein faced in moving his tattoo business.

“It was the worst time to do it,” John Martein said of the move. “They don’t give you any money up front. They don’t give you any help.”

Martein, who was perfectly happy at 44 Broad St. and said he wished he could stay there, felt like the state was intentionally picking apart information and estimates provided on his application for expenses. It seemed they were looking for excuses not to pay, he said.

Martein reminded officials, “You’re making me move. I’m not asking you for money to move.”

Then there are issues with the new location, which he found with the help of his former landlord, Hayden, who also owns the new building. For one, there is no parking for customers except a few metered places on Main Street near the store. Second, the sidewalk outside has been torn up as part of the city’s $2 million project to replace sidewalks up and down Main Street.

Still, Martein is grateful he has a place and is thankful for the help he has received from Hayden, who he describes as a great landlord. Without that help, Mayhem Ink might still be a business without a home, Martein said.

“If Fred hadn’t bought this building like he did, I would probably still be over there, like my brother is,” Martein said.

But what grates on John Martein the most are the hassles he says he received from the city over such things as the size of signs. His new building landed in a historic district, and Martein feels it has been unwelcome there because it’s a tattoo shop.

“They bust our chops for being here,” Martein said, referring to the signage and other regulations.

“It’s frustrating. Sometimes you just want to give up because it eats at you.”

But Martein said he and the five tattoo artists and two piercers he employs have taken an us versus them mentality.

“They would rather see this shop empty than to see us here,” Martein said.

For that reason, more than any other, he’s determined to stick it out and make it work, he said.

Patrick Meighan can be reached at 594-6518 or pmeighan@nashua
telegraph.com. Also, follow Meighan on Twitter (@Telegraph_PatM).