Buying, Renovating, and Renting Properties with Geoff Bosley

Intro: Welcome to Start Local where we talk with business owners, leaders of nonprofits, and other members of our community focused on doing business in and around Chester County, Pennsylvania. Each episode will provide insight into the local business scene and tell you about opportunities to connect with and support businesses and nonprofits in your local area.

The Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce promotes trade, commerce, industry and sustainable economic development while supporting a diverse and growing marketplace. The Chamber is proud to partner with the Start Local podcast to raise the profile of businesses and nonprofits throughout Chester County. Learn more about the chamber at scccc. That’s scccc.com.

Liam Dempsey: Hey. Hey. Welcome to the Start Local podcast. I am Liam Dempsey, and we are back in the studio for another session here. I am delighted to be here with the one, the only Erik Gudmundson. Hello, Erk.

Erik Gudmundson: Oh man, if there are more of me, there might be a good thing. I might have more spare time on my day, but good to see you, Liam.

Liam Dempsey: And you and you. And I think if I hung out with multiple yous, I would have to be the lead singer and you would be the backup singer.

Erik Gudmundson: I would be happy to be a backup singer in your band, Liam.

Liam Dempsey: I don’t think anybody would want to hear me sing. But anyway, folks, today we are delighted to welcome Geoff Bosley. Geoff is the Vice President and CFO of LGB Properties. That’s a property company based in Kenneth Square, Pennsylvania. Geoff, welcome to the Start Local podcast.

Geoff Bosley: Thanks for having me, Liam. Appreciate it. Erik, it’s always good seeing you, buddy.

Erik Gudmundson: Yeah, likewise. It’s. We used to see each other quite a bit when we served together on the board of the Southern Chester County Chamber. But I’m looking forward to getting into the conversation today.

Geoff Bosley:  for sure.

Liam Dempsey: Geoff, we just introduced you as an owner, as a vice president, a CFO of LGB Properties. And not everybody might know that that name is a business that is in and around, is in and around Kennett Square. But we expect that your most well known property is the Market at Liberty Place. Folks in Kennett Square will definitely know that venue very well. For those who live in the other corners of the county, tell us about the Market at Liberty Place.

Geoff Bosley: Market at Liberty Place is Kenneth’s, you know, version of the Reading Terminal Market or you know, the Fisherman’s Wharf out in San Francisco or the Pike Market in Seattle. So it has a Kenneth flavor to it. It’s obviously smaller since we’re in a smaller town. But you know, it’s an, it’s an eatery. We have seven different restaurants inside along with a full service bar. So, you know, people come and come for a lot of different reasons and they have, you know, a lot of different choices when they get in there. It’s a casual atmosphere, but it’s, you know, has a, has a pretty nice vibe to it and you know, we get, there’s a lot of use out of it within the community, which is great to see.

Erik Gudmundson: Every time I go in there, I always see people I know and I always walk out very full and very content. So it’s a, it’s definitely a good spot to be in a good community gathering place. I want to go back to LGB Properties as a company. It’s a, it’s a real estate manager management and renovation firm. You, you own and run that business with your father, Larry Bosley. Talk to us so about working so closely with your, your dad and if you would tell us how you came to work together.

Geoff Bosley: Yeah, working with him is terrific. We’ve been close for, you know, for my entire life and so it’s great. It’s just an extension of that. I don’t think we started out, you know, dreaming of a real estate company. He was superintendent of schools in Kenneth, retired I think in ‘99 and started doing some consulting. At that point, I was in college and I think he just didn’t like working from home. You know, he was on the early stages of people working from home and that sort of thing, but he just didn’t really like It didn’t have any separation between working and living and that sort of thing.

And you know, you get tied up with things around the house and then you, you know, next thing you know, you’re, you’re, you don’t put the work down, you’re just working all, you know, all night, that sort of thing. So he just wanted a separation, if you will. So he bought a building in Kennett on Broad Street. We still own the building. Like I said, I think that was in ‘99. I was in college. It just, you know, and he asked me over the building needs some work. There was, there was a lot. It was, it was a little rough, but you know, he had a vision for it.’

And over the summer and Christmas break he said, you know, hey, you come help me. And wasn’t thinking about other than just trying to help my dad and, you know, and you know, pass my day and that sort of thing. So did a lot of the demolition work and, and you know, learned some things about it and thought it was kind of interesting. I’m taking a class in real estate and in college at Virginia Tech and read a couple books and I was like, you know, this is kind of interesting. So meantime, he enjoyed it as well. And, a couple years later the building next door became available, so he went ahead and bought that. 

Consulting was going well. He was busy. You know, he had a lot of great experiences, traveled a lot. But I think at that point the grind of traveling was starting to get to be a lot. My mom was still teaching, so she couldn’t travel with him as much as they would have liked. And then 911 happened. So travel just became an extra layer of a pain, if you will. And I think he was in the World Trade center two weeks before 9-11. So you know, I think that obviously hit close to home and that sort of thing. So it’s got a point where it was just exhausting the traveling and you know, he’s not one to let the, let the grass grow under his feet.So he wanted to, you know, go ahead and find something else to do. 

In the meantime, we had talked a little bit more about the real estate. I had my, I was working for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Didn’t, didn’t love it, didn’t hate it, but you know, it just felt like a job. Didn’t know if I wanted to do that for the next 30 or 35 years of my life. So you know, we just said, hey, let’s go ahead and make this a full fledged business. And that was probably 2003 when we decided to go ahead and move forward with that. And in 2008 I left my job with Wyeth and came full time.

So 2008 became, you know, it was a rough year in the financial world and everything. So, you know, it was, it was a, it was a rough start. It was a hard, hard sled to push. But you know, that’s life. And you know, you, you lean on that as things go on and you know that if you can get through that, you can start a business through that, then, you know, you can get through anything.

And that was so looking back, it was a great time to start. You know, even in the moment it seemed like a, you know, like, what the heck am I doing here? Wasn’t, didn’t seem like a great life decision at the time.

Liam Dempsey: Yeah, that’s a tough way to start. But, but that you’re still working with your dad means you guys got through it pretty well. Let’s jump up ahead to today. Your property Company has industrial, office, retail, and even some residential properties. Show us around your portfolio properties. What and where is available to rent from you?

Geoff Bosley: Like you said, the market is, you know, or I’d say our signature property. And people, you talk to people and they ask you, you know, what do you do for a living? Or that sort of thing. And we have office space and that people say, oh, that’s interesting. Okay, move on. You know, you find out, they find out that you’re involved in the market and then they, yeah, you know, that, that’s a, People get a lot of, A lot of, A lot of conversation about that. So, you know, oh, you know, I love the tacos at Kebab Burritos. Or, you know, I, you know, what’s the new business, how’s that doing? Or whatever.

You know, why is this. Or, you know, the live music you guys have on Friday and Saturday? Like, I love the band. I was there two weeks ago and I love the band and, you know, that sort of thing. So, you know that. It’s just, it’s funny. People obviously haven’t have an interest in that because I think they touch it and feel it on a, you know, on a regular basis. 

We have a couple other restaurants. La Verona and Portobello’s are our tenants and they do both a great job right in, right on State Street. So La Verona is an Italian restaurant. Portobello is like a fine dining restaurant. Both are, you know, very popular and do a great job. We have office space. We range from folks like my dad 25 years ago needing a singular office to people that have larger space. So like I said, we have a lot of sole proprietors and people that have one or two employees. And then we have larger companies as well. 

Have a couple daycares, Ducklings daycare. They have two Inlandburg, one right off 41, and then one down in Kimballsville. And like I said, we have some apartments and that sort of thing. So our tenant mix is pretty interesting. I like, I get to talk to a lot of different people and learn a little bit about what they do. And the range of tenants that we have and businesses that we support is pretty interesting. But like I said, yeah, we range from small offices where people just need a place to work and they have a shared conference room and a shared waiting area and we clean the bathrooms and the common areas and all that. So they just show up and have an Internet connection, and are able to get their work done to say, more traditional office space of a larger size.

Erik Gudmundson: You’ve definitely grown an impressive little empire in southern Chester county. And it’s really nice. They are nice properties. Like they’re, they’re actually pleasurable to go through. It doesn’t feel like a cookie cutter, you know, set of spaces and I always appreciate that whenever I walk into one of your properties. 

Your company’s mission is posted on your website. It says it’s to improve the community’s quality and municipalities economic viability through the commercial and residential real estate market. Hopefully I got that right. What does that mean to you in your day to day work? I’m curious how from your perspective you’re working to fulfill that mission.

Geoff Bosley: The, the project has to make sense and obviously it’s a business, right? So it’s got to make sense from a dollars and cents standpoint. But it has to make sense to the town. And you know, having community places like the Market or Flowers Cafe in Oxford, you know, I took the… After church on Sunday we went there as a family, and it was great to see and there’s other, the place was packed and you know, seeing you know, a number of different people having a gathering place and a place for them to come. You know, obviously your offices, people need a place to go work, and having that you know, job base in a town is important because that supports the local economy and that supports housing and all those other things. 

You know, so finding projects that when they’re done they fit in well with the town, and provide a service in their community I think makes sense. So obviously daycare, you know, we, when we sat down with ducklings, you know, we found areas that they felt were a little underserved.

And the one on Star Road, Ducklings went through and they came to us, we had a relationship with them from another facility and they said, you know, we don’t have anyone who’s going to go to New Garden Elementary School in our portfolio. We are not serving that community so well. 

Now, you have 140 kids there, and you know, I think probably a majority of them are, will probably end up going to New Garden elementary or you know, other local schools. But the whole point was they said you know, we have a need. And it filled up in a hurry which you know, tells you that it was under, you know, it was underserved in that particular area. So that’s makes you feel good. And you know the properties have to look a certain way and you know, you want to be proud to own them, if you will and that sort of thing. So you know, if it’s not, if I didn’t want to somebody I was just telling say hey, I, we own that property.If I was embarrassed or ashamed to say that, then you know, either needs to change or that’s not a property for us.

Liam Dempsey: Before we hit the record button, Geoff, you were, you were sharing that LGB properties as a small company in terms of employees. Erik described it as a nice little empire at the southern end of the county, but, but not a lot of people a paycheck or a part of the company. It’s you, it’s your father as we shared and you’ve shared that. It’s sometimes your wife and sometimes your mom. So the question becomes really, how do you run a property management and development company on such a boutique structure? What does that look like? How do you build success when it’s really two guys trying to get it done?

Geoff Bosley: We work really hard, you know, that’s one of the things. Yeah, I think at this point my wife is probably close to full time status. So obviously our kids are 10 and 12, so we have some flexibility. And in the summer or break, you know, we will figure out the workload if I pick up a little bit of it then, or you know, we’ll make it work, snow days, that kind of thing. But you know, obviously her just having that flexibility is great for us and our family, but she works a lot and she’s super helpful. My mom is also helpful and going to the bank, the post office, stopping at wherever to grab something. Just, you know, there’s so many things involved that are, you know, are necessary. 

But we have a cleaning staff that does a great job. They’re not employees, but we, you know, we contract with them, and they take really good care of our properties and same thing with maintenance. So I wouldn’t say we do it alone, but from, in the office. Yeah, it’s two to three people. So you know, some businesses are heavy on personnel and that’s where companies draw revenue, you know, and that’s how you know, they contract for services or that sort of thing. That’s not our situation. So you know, our expenses are capital expenditures and building, the insurance and the taxes and the mortgages and those kinds of things. That’s where the expenses. So it’s a little bit of a different model where employees aren’t. You don’t need as many employees touching.

I also like the fact that when a tenant calls or I get a text or an email or say, hey, you know, where are our sinks leaking? You know, one of us is going to be the one to go out and take a look. It’s not going to get passed down the message too far. And our top maintenance guy is really conscientious, so there’s a lot of times where we’ll send him as well. But it’s still someone that people know, and it’s not a random person showing up and that sort of thing. And I think the attention to detail goes a long way with folks and just knowing that we’re, you know, we’re listening and we’re paying attention and we want to make sure things are good and that. And that’s a big part of our model.

Erik Gudmundson: Let’s go back to the market at Liberty Place. It opened in 2010, and you and a business partner then opened a bar there in 2019. The restaurants that call the market have changed overtime, call the market home. Have changed over time. Tell us about the evolution of the market. How has your vision for the property changed over the 15 years that you’ve been open there?

Geoff Bosley: Well, and Erik, I know you’’ve been a supporter since the beginning. I think I remember you there, probably even at the grand opening. I remember seeing you there. I think we had lunch there, you know, early on. Yeah, it has changed. And quite frankly, we didn’t know. We know a lot more now than we did, you know, 12 or 13 years ago. Obviously, you know, the experience of the whole thing. We knew what. We had a concept and we thought it would work, and we said, we’re going to make this work. 

Honestly, our initial vision had more of a mix between purveyors and prepared foods. And for a number of reasons, I think it just kind of went In the way of the prepared foods. They just became more popular and, you know, and people gravitated towards that. So it’s become, you know, more of a food hall. Even the name, the market has more of a different sound than probably if we named it today, it may not be the market, but at this point it, you know, it’s the market in Kennet. And that’s where the marketplace or whatever people call it. And so that’s where we are. 

But I think it’s, you know, like I said, I thought we, our initial thought had more of a balance between the two, but people gravitate towards the, toward it being more of a food hall and prepared food situation. And so that’s great. It’s just finding the right set of vendors. And I think like, early on, a couple of the better vendors were they prepared foods. Obviously State Street Pizza and Grill is still there. So James Miller. We, my dad actually had James in school and he graduated with my sister, with my older sister. So, we’ve known James a long time and he did a great job and he runs a really, really tight ship. So he was one of our first recruits, if you will. And we went out and actively pursued James and it was the right time for him and his family to go ahead and do the venture. And he’s obviously still there. So, you know, he’s super hard worker and really knows his business and that sort of thing. So that’s, you know, that’s great to see. 

And then you touched on the bar. We opened the bar together in 2019. Just felt like that was a big push forward for the market. There was a winery in there, but just they did a really good job and they had a good wine. Just having the flexibility to be able to serve liquor and all beer in addition to the wine and that sort of thing that just, it was a game changer for the market in general. So having that in there, I think has been a great compliment to everyone in the market. 

And it’s funny because wine is now like a smaller portion of what is sold. I think it’s probably only 10, 12% usually of the total alcohol sold. So just having that ability to have options for customers. And we could do a little, a few more things than we could have otherwise. I think it’s made a big difference there.

Erik Gudmundson: It’s been really interesting to watch the evolution of the market as time has gone on. And, you know, there are definitely some vendors I really like in there. There have been, you know, some vendors that aren’t necessarily my favorite go to choice for lunch. But I’m happy to say that the ones I love the most have been there for the long haul. And, you know, everybody has their own favorite in there. It’s really entertaining to watch people get so excited when they walk in the door.

Geoff Bosley: And that’s part of the selection. You know, at the end of the day, you know, in terms of the sales, then, you know, the feedback from the customers in terms of where it’s supported, that works out. We have a really good bunch right there, and they’re really good people. You know, started out, there was a lot of. There were some craziness and, and different vendors at different, you know, it was. It’s been a lot to get to where it is now, but it’s been very rewarding and in terms of seeing the growth and people enjoy it and, you know, going there on a Friday night and you see families with babies to single folks, to people in their 80s there, you see this, this wide array and kids are there, you know, teens are there having a burger and a milkshake. And, you know, there’s just. It’s a pretty neat thing to see and feel like you’re a part of. So, you know, it’s been a quite a ride for us.

Erik Gudmundson: It truly is a community gathering place. In addition to everything you’re describing that you see there, you also see, you know, small meetings taking place there. You know, people kind of use it as an ad hoc, you know, meeting place. Whether it’s for their business. If they want something out of the office or even a local community organization, you’ll see them in there, you know, and you also see people on dates in there. It works for everything, and you have little niches and spaces that they work for it.

I wanted to ask you too about just the success of the market in the context of everything that’s happening in Kennett Square. Because Kennett Square as a borough has had its ups and downs. You know, Genesis used to be a big anchor in town and is now has a much smaller footprint there. But yet, the market is always busy, it seems like, whether it’s a lunchtime or dinner time or, or even in between. How has that impacted your vision of what’s happening there at the market?

Geoff Bosley:  Well, to be honest, I think when we started, you mentioned Genesis, a lot of the lunch business wa based on Genesis. And you know, that was right around 2019, right before COVID, when Genesis started to pull back in terms of their employee headcount in town. And quite frankly, I don’t know if lunch is busy today, as it is 2019. Fortunately, the evenings are significantly busier, and on weekends. So it’s more than balanced it out. But you know, not having that large employer in the center of town, you know, that it would be nice to have that and not just for the market, but for you know, all the businesses in town, it’s, you know, having that was such a huge benefit and I think a lot of Kenneth’s growth over the last 20 years, 25 years has been. You can really trace back to Genesis and give businesses the confidence to go ahead and start a business because there was that foot traffic built in, you know, when they built the building, they didn’t have a cafeteria in the inside the building. They wanted people to go out and you know, frequent the restaurants and all that sort of thing. And yeah, having that was quite a boon and probably helped keep us afloat there as we were starting out back in the early years.

So, you know, hopefully those buildings getting back at some point on online, if you will, and having a lot of people is going to make a big difference. But like I said, I think again though, I think the bar help where you can go and have a drink. So you’re not just having food, but having a drink in the evening certainly has helped drive traffic. And we try to do things at Trivia Night on Wednesday nights, which is always a great crowd. And to your point about having meetings and yeah, it’s a de facto community space and people I think appreciate that and I think someone that’s, they support that because of, you know, they feel like it’s a community you know, outpost.

Liam Dempsey: You know, Geoff, I was reading on your company website that you have held both elected and volunteer positions with the borough of Kennett Square and you were an elected borough councilman for two terms. That’s eight years. And you served on the finance committee and on the planning commission. So I’m just curious, what was your experience of being so active in local government? What was that like? You were there for a long time.

Geoff Bosley: Yeah, and actually, I still serve on the finance committee. There’s a good chance. I had my last meeting yesterday. If the budget passes, then there probably won’t be a December meeting. And I submitted my resignation a couple of weeks ago for it. So, been on the borough finance committee for 16 years. I was on council for eight, I think 2010 to 2017.

You know, it’s funny, I was talking with the manager, Kyle Coleman, after the meeting yesterday and, and we were just, just chatting about the town and that sort of thing and, and I mentioned of all of the volunteer activities that I’ve done other than coaching my kids in sports and, and that sort of thing, being on borough council was actually my favorite. So I didn’t get to serve on the board with you, Erik, like I did with the chamber, but, you know, It was quite a. Our friend Doug, though I did get served with Doug Derfler, but it was a really interesting experience and.

And I took a lot out of it, and being able to help shape the town where you live and try to solve issues within the town and try to move the town forward, whether it be figuring out how to be, how to get the town safer or improve, you know, just living in town or, you know, in sidewalks and figuring out how to grow the tax base and, you know, working with the police, working with the school district, working with the neighboring municipalities. I mean, so many. You touched on so many different things, and it was really a fun, neat experience. So I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun. It felt like, you know, eight years was a good time to serve, and felt like it was time to let somebody else carry the ball for a little bit. I stayed on the finance committee, but really, really enjoyed my time on council, and I wouldn’t rule it out again. 

I’ve been on a lot of different boards and a lot of, served a lot of different committees, but that was my favorite volunteer activity other than coaching youth sports.

Erik Gudmundson: Serving in local government, elected positions like that iIs a very important role. You’re doing a huge service for the community, and it’s often a thankless job. So I’ll take a moment to just thank you for doing that and making Kenneth Square a better place.

Geoff Bosley: You do get some tomatoes thrown at you on occasion, and, you know, it’s when there are problems, there are bigger problems than you get usually with other boards just because of the magnitude of things and just, even just communicating with people and people asking you, hey, well, you know, what’s going on here? Or why is this happening? And, you know, and then you get the chance to talk with them and, yeah. Thank you for the Thank you. But it was. And it’s not as political usually as it is, you know, at a federal level or, you know, even a state level. But, you know, it should just be neighbors trying to, you know, make the town where you live a better place to be and that sort of thing. So, you know, being able to. Being able to do that, I think it’s not for everyone. You know, people either really enjoyed or really dislike it, but I really enjoyed. it was like, I said it was. I really enjoyed my eight years on council.

Erik Gudmundson: Well, you mentioned tomatoes being thrown at you, so I’m going to shift gears a little bit based on that. But you’re also a baseball fan, so maybe that’s why you handled, you know, tomatoes being thrown at you so well. You grew up playing ball at Kennett High School, and you spent more than a few years coaching the sport again at Kennett High School. You also coach  your young son’s teams.

Geoff Bosley: Yes. I still do.

Erik Gudmundson: Wow. So two questions for you on that. What position did you play? And what’s so special to you about baseball?

Geoff Bosley: I was a shortstop, mostly in little league, and then when I became 13, I became a catcher, and then I caught for the rest of my career. So I played in adult leagues over in Westchester and in Delaware county for probably seven or eight years, and just got to the point where I was coaching at the high school, and I didn’t have time to do both. And I said, you know, it’s just more fun at this point to, you know, work with young people and coach and mentor and all that kind of thing. 

You know, baseball is a great sport. When it’s played well, there’s such a great rhythm to it. You know, there’s like, many things. There’s different levels of strategy, the game within the game, and looking at that and trying to figure out what the pitcher is doing and the adjustments that the batter makes and all those kinds of things I just find fascinating when it’s played well. I like baseball. I think I like the fact that it’s a team sport, but it still has an individual component. When you’re in the box versus a pitcher, then it’s you versus him. And, you know, that’s where it is. But yet you’re still playing within a team environment, which I enjoy. It’s just. Yeah, it’s just. It’s. I’ve loved it since I was a baby. My parents said they would put me in front of the TV and my little bouncy seat or whatever, and I just sit there and watch baseball. And it would pacify me. It would occupy me for time. So, you know, I’ve always enjoyed it.

And ironically, my older son was the same way. I told my wife,  I guess my mom told my wife that story. So at six months, Brett was sitting there and through the magic of DVR and all that kind of stuff, it’s always baseball season, right? So it would be the winner, and she would need to go do laundry or Whatever. And so she’d put him in the thing and he just sit there and you know, be fascinated. So it was all good. So yeah, it’s great sport. So you know, love football and other sports and that kind of thing. But you know, baseball certainly, you know, special for us and that. Yeah. So my kids like to play and that’s great to see as well. So they get a lot of live enjoyment of it and so it’s great to see.

Erik Gudmundson: It’s funny you played catcher because I played catcher when I was in Little League as well and I happened to be at a Chester County Economic Development Council breakfast, and we got on the topic of baseball, and going around the room, it was amazing the number of local business leaders who played catcher. And it’s like, how did we all play catcher? I guess we’re all on different teams or something. But it’s an interesting position, and how that has translated directly to the business world, evidently.

Geoff Bosley: EYou know, it’s kind of a leadership position. So you’re kind of the quarterback out there, so it kind of makes sense. And I think they’ve always. You’re also looking at everyone, right? Everyone’s looking at you, and you’re the only one who can see the entire field. I think I saw where catchers, like more managers even in the MLB are former catchers than any other position probably for some of those things that we, those reasons we just talked about. But yeah, it’s great. It was a great position. Love playing it. So yeah, my oldest son has gravitated towards it as well. Younger son’s left handed, so he likes to pitch. So said, keep on pitching, buddy. You’re left-handed. Keep on, keep on doing it. But,, the older one likes to catch. So…

Liam Dempsey: So, we were down in Kennett Square last night for their kind of pre-holiday season kickoff event. It was really fantastic. Got the chance to go up and down State Street and visit a whole number of shops and venues and restaurants, and the like. And it’s really clear that downtown part of Kennett Square is really, has a great vitality about it. And it’s a wonderful place to shop and dine, relax, what have you. You’re a property company based in Kennett Square. You absolutely have a financial interest in how well Kennett Square as a place to do business, and all the things I talked about. How are you supporting the Marketplace?

Geoff Bosley: We live two blocks from State Street. I bought the house in 2007, and it needed a lot of work. Love the location though. Love the bones about it, but it needed a lot of work. So I don’t think I moved in until the summer of 2008. But one of the reasons why we live where we do is because we like being a part of Kennett and the festivals and you know, there’s times when the street gets shut down for this or that. But by the same token, you have, you’re right there. So you know, we love to walk. It’s a very walkable town. Having Anson be Nixon Park in our backyard is terrific. Being close to the library, being close to going down, and be able to get some ice cream or you know, obviously all the different restaurants and that sort of thing. 

So yeah. We spend a lot of time and you know, money in Kennett. Go to the market just about every day for lunch. Try to, we usually go Friday nights family dinner. So my parents and my sister and brother in law and niece, so, and friends of ours usually every Friday we’re actually gonna miss tonight. That’s a bummer. But other things come up but you know, just try to support local. 

And obviously yeah. We have an interest. But again that’s one of the reasons why we decide to live where we do because we love being in town and being able to walk, and you know, there’s a lot of great places, you know, some that we’re involved with and others that were not but that we still like to go, you know, visit and that sort of thing. So whether we’re picking up sushi from Lilies to take home or you know, Braylock, you know, we like going there and that sort of thing. But obviously you know, we love, Love Her Own in Portobellos, and that sort of thing.

But you know, there’s Kenneth, we’re getting into the holidays, and you know, the parades tomorrow, which is, always a great night. And you know, there’s the tinsel in the town and there’s the events at the Creamery and you know, the holiday village market and you know, all those kinds of things in the Memorial Day parade and Mushroom Festival. Obviously that’s, you know, the, the market’s favorite weekend of the year is the mushroom festival. So you know, there’s a lot going on. But you know, certainly we try to support the town, not just our, like I said, the properties that we’re associated with, but you know, the others as well.

Erik Gudmundson: Geoff, I’m thinking back over your answers here today, and you know, working for yourself, working for your dad, working in the hometown you love so much, owning a bar. These all sound very idyllic in many ways. But no job is without its stresses and headaches. So to keep it real, paint a realistic picture of some of the challenges you face with running your business. You know, what makes you want to pull your hair out sometimes?

Geoff Bosley: We, well, the other day we had. There was a water main break in Kennett. So trying to wrestle with that and there’s obviously nothing you can do and the borough does a great job and you know, things happen and it got fixed in a relatively timely fashion. But just dealing with that and communicating and then people still trying to, you know, finish their day in buildings where water supply is limited becomes a challenge. 

And then the aftermath of, you know, the next day, you know, it created an issue at the 110 building where Labrador and Portobellos are in the offices above that. We had to spend, you know, three or four hours yesterday trying to get everything back to where it was just from a. I won’t bore you with all the details, but just, you know, just trying to work through all of that. Then the same token, you have a leak in a building right down the street, and you know, and you’re trying to move forward with doing some construction on some other things that we’re working on.

So yeah, I mean, you know, there’s always something when there’s enough things going on that things happen. So, you know, you always get those calls. Certainly in the macro issue, it’s trying to control your costs. You know, we’re in an environment where in the last several years we’ve had a lot of inflation in managing construction costs.

Quite frankly, that’s changed the landscape. We were working on a project, and we spent considerable amount of money on it in terms of the engineering and the development. And it took us a while to get to the finish line. When we did, all of the financial costs in terms of the construction changed. So like the project, we spent years working on something, and we got to the finish line and it was no longer a viable project because cost had escalated so much. So, you know, that’s a super frustrating situation. You know, tenants making sure that, that you’re, you’re at a good occupancy rate. You know, there’s a lot of fixed costs. So if the buildings aren’t filled, then that creates a challenge and can create a financial stress or burden. We’ve done a pretty good job of managing that. But that’s obviously something always in the back of your head. 

And then you get the macro, the geopolitical issues. Where are interest rates right now? What’s the general market for commercial real estate in the, not only in this area but in the broader scope. So you’re trying to follow some of you know, that news and figuring out where the market’s headed, if you will. You know, and there’s obviously some things you can control. You know, I tell, I heard something, and I tell people this, I tell my kids all this all the time. You know, there’s two things in this world that you can truly control. Your effort and your attitude. And you need to make sure you can control those because there’s things happen that are out of your control and you can’t, you can only react to it and make the best of it. You know, so I try to keep that say that to myself every day when things aren’t going a certain way.

But you know, the, you know, we’ve been fortunate. Like I said, you know, we try to work really hard and try to have a vision and a plan but you know, we’ve had more good than bad. But some days are yes, if I had hair, then it would be out.

Liam Dempsey: Geoff, you shared a number of times the different places that great dining venues that rent from you and are your tenants, and you’ve listed a whole bunch. But I’m curious. Kennett has so many wonderful places to eat, and in a good way, new places pop up pretty regularly in and around the southern end of the county. Certain Kenneth for sure. Can you name a newer venue that is still on your must get to list? Where’s somewhere that you’re really looking forward to that you haven’t been to yet?

Geoff Bosley: We, you know both my kids play baseball, and they both play football in the fall. So we, you know we were running, juggling four sports for the fall and that those just ended a couple weeks ago. So we’re trying to don’t get to go out as much as we would like. My younger son’s team, his travel team we started speaking of the market, we got in the habit of going after wins or like boys, hey if we win then we’re going to go to the markets, and the team is pretty good. So we ended up having quite a few post game celebrations there, but there’s a lot of great restaurants and we got to go to Portobellos and Las Week, and like I said, those are a little trickier during the, to go with quite as often as we’d like during, you know, during their seasons. But we’ve gotten to do those. You know, the Naked Olive is really good. 

I generally like don’t like to get in my car to go to a restaurant, but that’s one that is pretty good. So, if I’m going to get in my car, then that’s one that we will do. We haven’t been there in a while but. And we’ll probably do that soon. 

Hungry Bear is another one and that’s, you know, I feel like it’s very community oriented,and you know, love, we love things about that. It’s a little more casual kind of place. And that’s another one that we like to frequent. That’s not in Kennett. Like I said, you know, the Braylock is great. So you know, that’s always a good, you know, option. We get Lily’s takeout and still Ms. Kenneth Brewing, Ms. KVC.

So, I don’t know if there’s a new one quite on our, on my radar. But yeah, those are the ones that we like to go, you know, in frequent. There’s other goings as well, but those are, those are the top of our list usually.

Liam Dempsey: Yeah, that’s a great list. And I just want to share for folks who do like ice cream. Hangry Bear does Flights of ice cream. Flights of ice cream. I’m just going to share that for our listeners because that’s, that’s, that’s worth the stop right there. A flight of ice cream.

Geoff Bosley: Yeah. And they’re, they’re very, like I said, community-oriented. They’ve given back. They’re supportive of, you know, a lot of local things which I love, and that’s kind of, you know, part of our ethos. So that, you know, that’s always one, that’s an easy one to support if we’re not, if we are going to get in the car which like I said, I love, love just walking to, walking to dinner. That’s a great deal.

Liam Dempsey: And folks, I just want to share that. We spoke with Melinda Shaw from Hangry Bear previously on this show. So we’ll definitely include a link to that conversation. She’s a really amazing business leader and has a fantastic venue for ice cream and so much more.

Erik Gudmundson: Well, now that we’ve talked about the fun stuff, I want to ask one question about more serious stuff. Geoff, could you educate us about the buying, renovating, and renting commercial properties? Understanding we need to keep this under a minute or two. Tell me maybe about what you look for, where, how do you decide where to buy and how do you figure out how much renovation is going to be enough to make people want to be there and to keep it within the budget and the spreadsheets you have.

Geoff Bosley: It’s got to be in the right area. You know, first and foremost, it’s got to be an area that where there has to be some potential. And a lot of it comes down to the municipality where they have a thought process in terms of where they view their town going. You know, it’s no secret that, you know, I think Kennett is a town that has had a lot of good thought process behind it in terms of having a plan. 

Oxford, you know, I feel the same way. And so that’s got to be it because we’ve been in town that if there’s not support from the upper administration, then it’s just not going to work, that things aren’t going to go the way they should. 

And then, you know, the building has to, I’m going to say it has to make sense and depends on how much renovation in terms of the cost. So say, okay, if we’re going to pay X for it and we need to put Y into it, and we need to be very judicious in terms of coming to that number and knowing that you don’t see everything on a tour. There’s going to be hidden costs and that sort of thing. We’ve gotten, you know, pretty good. My dad’s really good at figuring those kinds of things out and say, okay, if we’re going to put X, we’re going to buy it for X and we’re going to put Y into it. You know, Z needs to be higher than X and Y and you know, how long is it going to take for us to do it? What’s the, you know, what’s it look like on the other side? And again, and how does it fit into the town? Like, what can we do here that’s going to be a viable piece of what, you know, that municipality is looking for? And how can we improve the municipality by doing all that? 

So, in a nutshell, I’d say that’s the thing it’s, you know, just a lot of talking and going back and probably looking at it again and driving by when, after the visit, you know, going at different times. So, you know, I’ve looked at properties go by in the evening when no one’s around or go by first thing in the morning or on a weekend.

And, and, you know, how does this fit with what we’re trying to do, and how does that fit into the global view of the municipality? And, you know, how’s it going to support the town? How’s the town going to support it? So I think that’s in a nutshell, it’s not a quick process. It’s not. Yeah, that sure looks good. Okay, let’s go ahead and. Let’s go ahead and buy it.

You know, it’s a process. I think the Liberty Place building, and this was totally random. We looked at it August 19th of 2009 was the first time we looked at it. Wow. And we settled on August 19th of 2010. So that was a random thing. We didn’t realize and until afterwards.

And it took us probably six months to get it and no, maybe not four months to get it under contract and, and to figure it out. And then it took us another eight months to settle on it. That one’s probably a little, little more exaggerated than most, but, you know, that, that was just, you know, from a timeline perspective. You know, we had a year of time invested in it before we actually closed on. And then, you know, and then you had more time obviously after that in terms of getting it up and running and going from there. 

And then the Market opened three years later. We had other tenants before then and in the offices, but. So, you know, it’s a, from 2009 until July of 2013, it was almost four years until the building was in its current state, if you will.

Liam Dempsey: That’s certainly a journey. I expect that you know the southern end of the county better than most. You’ve lived there. Your whole life, you were raising your own family there. You have businesses across properties across the southern end of the county. Tell us about a local business or nonprofit that more folks should know about.

Geoff Bosley: Local business, you know, we’ve touched on a number of them in Kennett. I’m gonna say another local business, though, in Oxford that I absolutely love is Flowers Cafe. Josefina Flores she worked at Kebab Burritos. I know that’s one of Erik’s favorites at the Market. 

And Josefina was great employee, did an amazing job for I think seven or eight years. And then she had a dream to start on her own. On her day off she went over to Mary Pat’s and she worked with Tim and Mary Pat’s just to learn the breakfast side of things. So, you know, and then she started. It was a little over a year ago that she opened her doors at Flowers Cafe in Oxford. And she’s doing a great job down there. And food’s delicious. It’s kind of Mary Pats ish. It’s a breakfast place, breakfast and lunch place for those who don’t know Mary Pats, but you should know Mary Pats because Mary Pats is really, really good at the market. It’s one of my favorites. 

But you know, as she has a little bit of a, of a Latino flair on an AmErikan breakfast place. So given her Mexican background, there’s a number of Mexican shaded dishes, if you will. On top of that, and then straight classic AmErikan breakfast as well. But she does a great job and her family’s involved. It’s a really great, great story. 

Nonprofits. There’s a number of awesome nonprofits. And I know, I think you guys spoke with Daniel Embree from Kennett Collaborative. I was in the Kennett Collaborative Board. Daniel’s one of my favorite people in Kennett. 

You know, the Mushroom Run that was just done a couple weeks ago, Sarah Nuri and Karen Dimascola and Cara Gibbons started that. I was on council, and I just remember them coming to. They had this dream, and this vision and all this energy and I was like, you know, these, these, they’re awesome. They’re, you know, it’s going to be really successful. You can just tell based on how well, how motivated they were and how much energy they had. And they do a great job. I think they had over a thousand run this year, which is great to see. So I think in 10 years they’ve grown, you know, probably from 100 or 200 runners to a thousand. So that’s, we always like to support, you know, local charities and local organizations. And those are a couple that we, that we really have an interest in just based on, you know, what they do for the community. 

Obviously the Mushroom Festival and Camp Dreamcatcher, there’s so many good ones in and around the youth Garage. But I, you know, I want to give a shout out to the Mushroom Run folks as well.

Erik Gudmundson: That’s a great Answer. We’ll be sure to put links to those organizations in the show notes and also we’ll call out the episode where we interviewed Daniel Embry with Kenneth Collaborative. So thank you for that answer. Quick question for you. Are you hiring or looking for any new contractors or service providers at that time? We can help you find?

Geoff Bosley: We’Re always looking so you know, it’s, we’re always trying to better our business, and that sort of thing. Like I said, from an office standpoint, I don’t think we have a need. I think we, in terms of our model, I think we’re kind of where we are but certainly new contractors and all that sort of thing. So we’re, you know, we’re busy, and we’re looking for a new, new project to sink our teeth into and that sort of thing. But yeah, there’s, we’re always looking for sure.

Erik Gudmundson: Well, Geoff Bosley, Vice President and CFO of LGB Properties, where can listeners connect with you to learn more about LGB Properties, and maybe review what restaurants are waiting to welcome them to the market at liberty place?

Geoff Bosley: So lgbproperties.com, and my, the office telephone number’s on there, my email’s on there. So I love, always love connecting with new people and talking with new people,, and that sort of thing. And people send ideas, you know, about the market, and that’s so we appreciate that. 

And there’s always folks reaching out, bands that want to be a part of it. We always like to keep, we have music every Friday and Saturday. You don’t want to have same music all the time. We have a lot of good performers and that sort of thing, but we’re always looking for new ones. So a lot of people reach out and say, hey, I have an interest. I love coming there but I have a band and you know, like to play there sometimes. So you know, we go through that whole process and all that. So, yeah. So I try to be, try to be available to reach out to people or if people want to reach out. I’d love to chat with him.

Liam Dempsey: Geoff, thanks so much for chatting with us today. It’s been a real pleasure to spend time with you, get to know a little bit about you, and hear about your business. Thanks so much.

Geoff Bosley: Thank you so much for having me.

Erik Gudmundson: Geoff Bosley, thank you for coming on, and thank you also to my co-host, Liam Dempsey. I’m Erik Gudmundson. 

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