Greater New Haven is Poised for Liftoff (Literally)

For decades, Greater New Haven business leaders have been pointing to the dwindling fortunes of Tweed New Haven Airport as a major barrier to economic development in the region.  This week's announcement that the airport will be privatized for at least the next 43 years, with a longer runway and a new carrier offering flights to several cities, is a huge boon to our area.  

Connecticut has spent most of its air transportation money on Bradley, which is now offers international, as well as domestic, flights, and is the biggest of the State's three airports.  There has been a great deal of rivalry between Sikorsky in Stratford and Tweed in East Haven.  Neither one has made much, if any, progress.  Both have been hampered by surrounding residential developments, short runways, and poor prospects for big carriers.  Nor has either location garnered steady support from its legislative delegation.  

It's a new day now for Tweed. By inking a private deal, public sector funds are no longer necessary.  The powers that be in Hartford don't need to be courted, and they should be nothing but enthusiastic about this outcome.  Both New Haven and East Haven, whose borders it straddles, will see upsides from this arrangement, apart from a boost to the region as a whole.  The terminal will be moved, which will ease the traffic burden on the Morris Cove neighborhood.  Jobs will be created for both municipalities, and other development should spring up on the terminal side.  

Once we can offer residents convenient flights to hubs or favored destinations, within minutes of their homes, people who travel regularly on business, or even for pleasure, will reap major benefits.  Whether they park at the airport, get dropped off, or take a short Uber ride, they will save hours of time now taken up with congestion leading to the NYC airports.  The certainty of the amount of lead time required to get to Tweed, and the small size of the TSA line, will outweigh in many cases the need for stopover plane changes to many cities.  

Regional business leaders have long known the untapped demand for a viable local air transportation option.  With the huge increase in remote work possibilities brought on by the pandemic, many more people are likely to choose to live in Greater New Haven.  We have recreation, schools, health care, and the arts, all in abundance.  Now we will have commutability as well.  Let the commercial expansion begin!

Pearce Commercial Agent Carl Russell Does Biggest SIOR Deal Nationwide in June

We can make big real estate news here in Greater New Haven!  Carl Russell, SIOR, CCIM, of Pearce Commercial, was featured in the most recent issue of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) News. Carl sold 35,000 sf of medical office condominiums in Orange, CT.  The center is called Springbrook Commons, and it was the largest office sale reported nationally in the SIOR network for the month of June.

Carl also handled the sale of a large Family Dollar Store in the same month, showing not only his versatility, but the strength of the market across sectors.  While we have been focusing in this blog recently on warehouse and industrial properties, these two sales represented the retail and office portion of the current strong sales climate.

News sources reported last week that real estate was the only part of economy showing exceptional growth.  We all know that Connecticut is the beneficiary of New Yorkers seeking more residential space, but it's important to note that this extends to other types of space as well.  That broad performance suggests that there is somewhat general agreement that tangible property is a good investment, both for users and for investors.

This argues that we are in a seller's market, and that owners should consider listing now, even at a time of year that is normally slow (perhaps especially now, given the Northeast lull in COVID cases).  While we wouldn't have expected that our sales would boom in a pandemic, nor would we have chosen such a scenario, we are all surprised at the robust nature of the current climate for real estate.  Don't be left behind--this is your chance.

U.S. may need another 1 billion square feet of warehouse space by 2025 as e-commerce booms

By Lauren Thomas, CNBC, click here to read article online

KEY POINTS

• With more people clicking "buy" online, demand for industrial real estate could reach an additional 1 billion square feet by 2025, according to commercial real estate services firm JLL. 

• The boom for fulfillment centers comes as the traditional retail real estate industry is suffering with store closures piling up and rents plummeting, as companies look to negotiate new leases. 

With online sales proliferating during the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. is going to need more warehouses to store hoards of boxes and handle those orders. 

Holed up at home, and with many bricks-and-mortar stores temporarily shut, shoppers have turned to their computers and smartphones to buy everything from fresh groceries to new home furnishings to pet toys. And even after the pandemic subsides, the trend of people buying more and more online is expected to stick around. 

And so with more people clicking "buy" instead of venturing to the mall, demand for industrial real estate could reach an additional 1 billion square feet by 2025, according to a new report from JLL. 

The commercial real estate services firm said that prior to the Covid-19 crisis, about 35% of its industrial leasing activity was related to e-commerce. But now, it said, as much as 50% of that leasing activity has already been tied to the online retail industry in 2020. 

"The first quarter was our largest leasing quarter in three years," said Craig Meyer, president of JLL's Americas industrial division. "We're seeing more pressure on [e-commerce companies] than the typical holiday season ... to meet consumer demand." 

He explained a recent situation where a retail-related company requested a lease on a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse space in Delaware about 30 days ago, and moved in almost immediately to begin fulfilling orders for fresh items. Part of the warehouse included a cold-storage component, for foods that need to be kept refrigerated, Meyer explained. 

"That is unheard of," he said. "The lease was signed and they moved in in less than 30 days." Typically, deals will span the course of nine months, from signing a lease to moving in, according to Meyer. 

JLL is projecting the U.S. needs another 100 million square feet of cold-storage facilities just to keep up with consumer demand and sales trends. 

To put into perspective how much extra warehouse space is needed, Prologis, a real estate investment trust that is also Amazon's largest landlord, has estimated that e-commerce companies require 1.2 million square feet of distribution space for each $1 billion in sales.  

The firm eMarketer, meantime, is predicting U.S. e-commerce sales will make up about 14.5% of total retail sales, or $709.78 billion, this year. By the end of 2024 that percentage will grow to 18.1% of all retail sales, with online sales surpassing $1 trillion for the first time, it said. 

Industrial real estate is the "darling" of the commercial real estate industry today, Meyer said.

The sector certainly has a brighter outlook than some of its peers — including office, retail and hotel space, where vacancies are increasingly growing and fewer new deals are being done. 

In retail specifically, store closures are piling up and are on track to break a record this year, pressuring landlords to find new uses for emptied spaces. Rents are also under pressure, as companies looking to keep their stores open are working to renegotiate deals, hoping to leverage the market's disarray in their favor. Former department store executive Jan Kniffen has predicted a third of America's malls will vanish by 2021. This could also deal a blow to the towns that depend on their malls for tax purposes. 

Warehouses could be one solution, since supply is harder to come by. 

In some instances, dead malls have already been converted into sprawling logistics hubs. In Memphis, Tennessee, for instance, a shuttered Sam's Club store is now home to a Sam's Club e-commerce fulfillment center. 

Still, there are hurdles in taking a former retail space and turning it into something else, Meyer cautioned.

"There are things like zoning laws, these are residential areas," he said. "There's going to be a lot more involved with imagining these things." 

No Summer Lull This Year

We may have lost the spring real estate season, but we aren't losing the summer!  Our leads on LoopNet are the most plentiful they've ever been, and our agents are busy.  Given the uncertainty of the pandemic's return, this is either the calm after the storm, or the calm before the second storm (or both).  In either case, buyers are out looking.  

Many of them are thinking that properties will be available at rock-bottom rates, but, as with residential, the supply is too thin for that to be so.  Some lookers are New Yorkers, seeking to move businesses, or just invest where they may have a second home. Some buyers are local, and know that certain property types are hard to find.  The investors may be from anywhere, and we've been finding that they look at many offerings at once, often of completely different types.  

Connecticut, after decades of coming out on the losing end of many measuring metrics, such as job growth or personal income growth, is now enjoying its moment in the sun, as the state that is beating back COVID.  Isn't it nice to be good at something?  So keep wearing those masks, people, so that the buyers stay active and well, and the sellers do too.  That way, everyone wins.

Transactions are Still Happening in Commercial Real Estate

It was hard to know a month ago, when we closed our physical offices, what would happen to our sales.  We aren't saying that there isn't a big dip, but it seems to be mostly from the lack of listings, in some categories.  That is, fewer listings are coming onto the market, and therefore there is less inventory to sell.  When properties do get listed, they get looked at online, and they get seen in person, and they sell.  That's not always true, but it is notable.

One reason is that we've known for a while that many businesses were short of space, but not pulling the trigger on more.  Now, some of those decision makers have time to look, to evaluate, and to buy.  We have seen that in sectors unaffected by the pandemic.  In the case of industries at the forefront of the current situation, they can be growing rapidly.  Doesn't everyone wish that Zoom were based in Connecticut?

Another contributing factor is the knowledge that some of this change is probably permanent.  Not only will more people meet virtually, those who are buying and having the goods delivered are getting used to that way of life.  In the sphere of commercial real estate, that calls for more warehouse space.  I've written before about our location between NY and Boston, as well as our own demand, due to the relative lack of retail here, compared to other markets.  Recently, we listed a warehouse near I95, and it went under contract in three days, after several showings.  It didn't surprise us, but it may surprise some people, who may feel that the country is in a state of suspense, with no forward movement.  Actually, smart businesspeople are positioning themselves for the changes coming with reopening.

Finally, rates are low, and the stock market is volatile.  That combination often leads to a boom in real estate.  Let's hope so.

Coronavirus and Commercial Real Estate

There are no crystal plans, and almost no precedents, to give us guidance about what to expect in the weeks and months ahead.  We still have clients looking, clients buying, and there are also some clients pulling out.  Uncertainty is always tough for people, and now it's through the roof.  One buyer felt that his business had already been so impacted that, although he still wanted and needed the new building, he was afraid to commit.  The losses in the market have multiplied that problem.

On the other hand, everything I am reading about crisis management says that good leaders plan ahead for what will, and what might, take place.  If you consider both the best and the worst cases, you usually end up right in the middle.  People who take action sooner than others, whether it's pulling back or charging ahead, are most often the ones who garner the greatest profit.  It's that vision that keeps some buyers marching forward, and they will attract followers, if they move confidently.

That doesn't mean that it is a good idea to stockpile hand sanitizer, as one greedy entrepreneur did last week, but it does mean that, if you play the odds after careful weighing of the pros and cons of doing so, you still may come down on the side of thinking about life after COVID-19.  Governmental aid is going to remain at probably an all-time high, and interest rates should stay at an all-time low.  Doing the bold thing with the right circumstances, and a little luck, can have a great payoff.  The big advantage of betting on real estate is that it's tangible. What you have at the end of the day can't go away, even if it might not be as liquid as most stocks.  Between the market, and what we can foresee will be great pent-up demand for goods and services when the immediate crisis has passed, it may be that staying in the game is the right action to take.

Every day brings changes, so advice is particularly transitory these days.  However, if you do decide that you'd like to take the plunge, we're here to guide and advise you.

Investment Real Estate Still Strong

For all of the complaints of businesspeople about Connecticut, it remains a place in which people want to invest.  There are many reasons for this.  One is that most investors tend to invest close to home, maybe because it's easier to take care of details when the property is close by, and maybe because they know more about values in their own vicinity.

Another reason is that there are specific opportunities in our region.  For example, New Haven has a robust rental housing market, with thousands of students, and a population that includes 62% renters.  Despite all the building, conversion, and development of rental housing over the past decade, inventory keeps disappearing. Much the same is true of warehouse space, based upon our proximity to Boston and NYC.

Prices remain low in our area, especially, again, compared with our neighboring states.  Although prices for residential property rose 7% in January, over the January before, there are still bargains to be had.

We have a strong vacation home market.  Waterside and wooded locations appeal to buyers, because they can be enjoyed, but they can also be rented to others.  Fears about travel will only increase the desirability of locations near major metropolitan areas.

There's a lot of money in Connecticut, and it all needs to find places to go.  Real estate is an attractive opportunity, and one that most people understand and appreciate.

All of this goes to suggest that, if you have property to sell,  you should consider selling it now.  If you are looking to buy, you should do that before the inventory dries up.  Based upon the above list, that might not take too long.

Connecticut is Open for Business

Governor Lamont is reaching out to businesses in a variety of ways.  To begin with, he's a businessperson himself, and therefore presumably is sympathetic to the costs and travails of doing business here.  In addition,  he has a highly visible team of economic experts, including ex-CEO Indira Nooyi of Pepsi, and Jim Smith, ex-CEO of Webster Bank.  He has recruited entrepeneur Josh Geballe as CAO, who in turn has brought in developer Noel Petra to manage the State's real estate holdings.  Manufacturer Colin Cooper is putting a spotlight on CT manufacturing.

All of this goes a long way toward making the business community feel welcome.  In addition, he's talking up our assets and promoting optimism.  He's also loosened up on the State's "debt diet", although it remains to be seen which way that cuts; it could promote growth, or just increase State spending.  He seems serious about infrastructure and transportation.  What more is a Governor to do?

He needs help from the Legislature, however.  They don't always seem to share his priorities.  He can't un-elect them, so he has to work with them.  Right now, his agenda seems bogged down over tolls.  Let's hope that his broader vision prevails, and that our representatives do what they should--make Connecticut competitive.

Doubling Down

There have been three pieces of good news for Connecticut real estate this week.  The first was that Hartford Health Care is planning to take a big chunk of 100 Pearl Street, marking a departure from the normal downsizing of office and space users in Hartford.  The second was that the Knights of Columbus have bought one of the two towers on Long Wharf Drive in New Haven.  They acquired it an auction, for $12.8 million, about a third of what it last sold for, but it means that a large employer and player in New Haven is expanding, not leaving.  The last bit of news is not commercial per se, but represents the same theme.  Housing purchases over a million dollars were up 40% last year in Connecticut.  After lots of bad news about values and units, that was a sign that buyers are using their resources to invest in local property.

Having current owners double down on real estate holdings in the state may not be as sexy as bringing in new companies and residents, but it does mean that we may be at the start of a new era, where we retain our jobs, and perhaps then recruit others.  So we view it as a positive start to a new decade!

Opportunity Zones Draw Interest

400 people crowded into the Omni Hotel this week, to hear about the opportunities available in, well, opportunity zones.  Governor Lamont gave an address, encouraging the use of the zones to develop Connecticut's cities, and telling the audience that he would make sure that 15 minutes got cut from the train time to NYC.

Although the State would like to see people investing in businesses within the zones, most so far have concentrated on real estate holdings.  It is somewhat of a surprise to see how many big players are looking at this new sector of the market, but it isn't clear that they will snap up the smaller choices.  That's where the average investor comes in, especially when he/she knows the local area.

The length of time for most investments--ten years or more--will discourage some, but many will be undeterred.  When the current peak prices in the stock market are taken into account, a longer term with more reasonable returns seems safer.  Most of the bigger firms are expecting to get a return of 10-11% per year, over a decade.  It behooves those of us who live here to snap up some of this product, before others swoop in to claim the rewards.

New Haven leads on economic index, Hartford catches Stamford

By Alexander Soule of the New Haven Register

New Haven led Connecticut cities for economic momentum in 2018, according to a newly updated index that ranks municipalities by a handful of measures including employment, personal income and new business establishments.

North Stonington led all Connecticut municipalities a second straight year on a Connecticut town economic index published Tuesday by the state Department of Labor, with nearby Groton tops among smaller cities with less than 100,000 people.

Among the five largest cities with populations above that threshold, Hartford edged ahead of Stamford despite comparatively high unemployment in the state capital, and with the latter city undergoing a building boom downtown and in Stamford’s Harbor Point district that continues to draw renters and commercial tenants.

Bridgeport finished slightly behind Waterbury as the lowest performing major city in Connecticut.
The DOL index omits several major determinants of any municipality’s overall prosperity — notably to include grand-list property tax totals and any changes that capture the value of new residential and commercial developments which can contribute to a town’s economic base.

The data snapshot results in the index lumping towns together that have widely divergent economic bases. For instance, Ansonia and Westport are near the bottom rung despite median income in Westport roughly quadruple that of Ansonia and the Gold Coast town home to several major corporate employers including the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.

But the data is useful to showcase year-over-year gains in any single municipality, though reliance on estimates can skew those trends as well. Union was the runaway gainer on this year’s installment of the DOL index, with Kent and Bethel leading western Connecticut and East Haven tops among smaller cities for overall improvement.

Speaking last week in Hartford, Gov. Ned Lamont noted the potential impact on municipalities for a “debt diet” he is instituting with accompanying reductions in spending that the state has funneled to cities and towns in the past.

“Prioritized progress (means) don’t increase a lot of bonding, but prioritize at the expense of other capital items -- be that education, be that affordable housing,” Lamont said. “We’ve got to figure out … how much of that is going to be on the backs of taxpayers, how much of that is going to be on the company credit card, so to speak.”

Embrace the College Towns of Connecticut

We are fortunate to have places in Connecticut where universities drive the economy.  While Storrs was a farming community, New Haven and Hartford had industry.  As that industry leaves or automates, we can be glad that students followed.  College towns have a vibe all their own, and we should enhance it, not fight it.

Students look for a different type of retail, as well as later hours and trendier choices.  They also seek alternative housing in many cases, and have income from parents, in many cases, which extends their buying power.  We have learned in New Haven that high-end housing is affordable to many graduate students, in particular, and that those units are snapped up far more quickly than we all expected.

The same dynamics should apply to retail.  Disposable income is spent differently by demographic profile,and younger people tend to use more discretionary services. They learned from us that time is money, but they act accordingly, while we don't always do that.  Places that specialize helping others live more graciously, healthfully, or pleasantly are key to this movement, and should inform our investing and developing choices.  And the rest of us can benefit from those offerings, so we all win!

Tax Effects Uncertain

Pundits spent a lot of time last year, trying to predict what buyers would do in light of the many tax law changes.  People in Connecticut were especially nervous, given our status as a state where changes in the treatment of SALT (state and local taxes) would have a big effect.  Here we are, a whole tax year later, and it's hard to say for sure what happened.  In my own case, many different laws were applied or eliminated, and my total taxes in the end were so close to what we paid last year that I questioned whether we could have signed last year's return again.

On the residential side, where we really thought capping SALT deductions would cause high-end prices to fall, the opposite seems to be happening.  Properties along the coastline especially are flying off the market as quickly as they come on.  Perhaps it's supply, which has declined, perhaps it's the increasing number of years since the last big hurricane, or perhaps people are generally doing well, despite what they may tell pollsters who call them.

Anyway, if you've been thinking that there are no buyers for your properties, think again.  They are out there, and they are buying.

My Sabbatical

I am perhaps one of the unusual people who has stayed in the same job for most of my adult life.  I have been running Pearce Real Estate since the mid-1980s, after leaving the practice of law to work with my father in late 1981.  Although it's challenging and absorbing, and I love the people with whom I work, this seemed like the right time for me to take on a new challenge for a little while.

Connecticut Hospice has been a part of my life since childhood, when my father was on the Board and his best friend was the Board Chair.  Over the years, we have represented them in real estate transactions, including the move into their current location.  Pearce Real Estate has done a Day of Caring there, after Hurricane Irene, which was shortly after my father died there.  I have always known what a special place it is.  When I was recently asked to help them, after a period of turbulent management change, I didn't hesitate.  I agreed to become the interim CEO, and I started almost immediately, a few weeks ago.

It has been the most intense professional experience of my life.  There is so much to do, and I am also trying to master a new field.  However, I have great people working with me, and CH has extraordinary employees, who believe passionately, as I do, in the mission of Connecticut Hospice.  They have supported me every step of the way, and thanked me for coming to work every morning.  What happens in that building, and in all the places where CH delivers home care, is a labor of love for every staff member.  I am privileged to have been asked to lead such an amazing organization.

I am also blessed with a terrific team at Pearce Real Estate, where everyone clapped, or even cried with joy, when I said that I was going to spend the next year at Connecticut Hospice, They, too, are extraordinary people, and always in my heart while I work to make Hospice thrive.  I am proud of the work they do as well, and the professionalism with which they assist clients with all types of real estate needs.  Nanette Pastore, who is running Pearce in my absence, is the best partner any executive could ever want--talented, hardworking, caring, and committed.  She is more than ready for this challenge, and she deserves all the support she is getting from everyone.

This blog will continue, as well my commitment to Pearce Real Estate, although most of my time is fully taken at the moment!  I look forward to continuing the dialogue about issues in buying and selling, and to your ongoing readership.

A State Full of Warehouses

There's been a lot of talk about the aborted Amazon deal in Queens, and many commentaries on the pros and cons of the decision.  Let's not lose sight of the fact that we have a big--gigantic, even--warehouse going up in North Haven.  Although distribution centers lack the glamour of headquarters buildings, and admittedly have many fewer employees per square foot, they certainly boost the local economy in many ways.

Connecticut, with its prime location between Boston and New York, has long been a place from which companies served both of those markets.  Even as the world becomes more technological, and much more things are done online and in the cloud, there are still more and more physical objects that get moved around daily.  Many more shoppers go online to buy, as opposed to driving to a traditional mall.  Streets are littered with FedEx and UPS trucks, and 54 cents of every advertising dollar is now spent online.

That should mean that our future in this state will depend upon our ability to help manufacturers and middlemen move goods from place to place, especially in the Northeast Corridor.  We are well suited for that, as long as we begin to focus more on our infrastructure.  The transportation lockbox in Hartford will be key for improving our roads and rails.  But geography, and our much lower real estate prices, are on our side.

Properties that are built as warehouses, distribution spaces, or flex spaces, and those that can be rehabbed into those types, are ripe for the picking.

Land is Getting Action

Based on the calls coming into our office, buyers are interested in buildable land.  Much of what is on the market is not to the specifications of many buyers, and they are increasingly interested in perhaps just building from scratch, and getting exactly what they want.  In addition to being able to choose size, layout, and materials, they are also benefiting from the latest in environmental technology, so that they are lowering the costs of operation.

Do you have any empty acreage, or extra land where your current facility is, that you might be willing to sell?  This is the time to thing about doing just that.  There are buyers out there, and you could be in front of them shortly.  Why not capture the value and put it to work for you elsewhere in your business?  You could even think about a long-term land lease, if you're really worried that someday you might need the property, or that the value will be lowered, if the option for more land goes away.  If you can think of a scenario that makes sense for you, we can work with that!

CoStar Reports

All of our commercial agents are busily learning the latest features of CoStar, with intensive training from both inside and outside the Company.  How does this help you?  We have lots of big data and specific facts about properties in Connecticut, that you can request to help you evaluate choices, locations, your current space, and more.  Although clients these days can find information all over the internet by searching themselves, they rarely have access to the complete inventory in a given area.  And, if they aren't regular searchers, they may not know everything that's possible to download or format.

So give us a call.  Tell us what you're looking to learn, and we have a program for that!  Information is power, and we're feeling very powerful these days.  Let us put that knowledge to work for you.

Looking Up For 2019?

Our Commercial Department meeting this week was as full of listing and selling reports as we've seen in several years.  Agent after agent reported listings, and then stated that they were under contract.  This was true regardless of the part of the State, the type of property, and its use.  It seemed to us as though the first of the year brought a rush of people deciding that they had vacillated long enough.

To some extent, sellers planning to leave the State will also cause this kind of movement, so it may not all be good news, but it sure felt like it to us.  Even the suggestions from others around the table were positive, as to the likelihood that things would sell.  And this was all true despite the outside temperatures at 15 below with the wind chill, on the morning of the meeting. 

No one would be happier than we would be, if Connecticut were truly seeing a new beginning.  Between investment from those priced out of New York and Boston, users finally pulling the trigger on needed space, and startup businesses, there's a lot to spark the market. 

If you are a seller, consider listing now, while demand is strong and supply has not caught up.  If you are a buyer, don't hesitate.  Remember, he who hesitates is lost. 

Reaping the Rewards?

Now that the stock market has started to rally so strongly, maybe it’s time for people to take what they’ve made, and buy real estate instead.  In our region, prices are still very low, compared to even twenty years ago.  We used to have average home prices well above the national average, so that job recruits moving here were worried about finding affordable housing comparable to their previous homes.  Now, we are very close to the national average, and we haven’t gone up, in some areas, enough to cover the declines of the last decade.  Commercial prices have been bumping along, also not moving up over time.  Some industrial buildings are at prices equal to those of years ago.  While some towns have a shortage of smaller commercial spaces, others have empty big box stores, many of which could be repurposed.  We are very short on affordable housing in our region, and the gap keeps growing, as rents continue to rise.  Even as housing prices for homes have declined, rents have doubled, and many tenants are paying a percentage of their incomes for rental units that is considered to be onerous.

 

What does all this mean for buyers?  Real estate is, and always has been, cyclical to some extent.  Through the boom  years, we would say that what goes up, must come down.  Now it seems that the opposite should also be true:  What went down, will come back up.  There is still an opportunity in our area, which isn’t true in much of the country—especially the coasts—to get normal appreciation on purchases, given the current state of prices.  We know that investors have been increasingly drawn to our state, because of the high prices in Boston and NY.  Why would locals not invest as well?  While we’ve been reading about the woes of Connecticut, others have been coming from out of state and out of the country, and buying and buying.  With our deeper knowledge of the local market, we should be able to do better than they could.  So let’s make a resolution in 2019:  Buy local!

Season's Greetings