Essex Experience owner Peter Edelmann in the 18th-century barn used as a concert band shell Credit: File: Luke Awtry Peter Edelmann, the longtime owner of the Essex Experience who transformed a dying outlet mall into a vibrant retail hub of locally owned shops, salons, cafés, and food and adult beverage makers, has put his shopping center up for sale, he told Seven Days on Thursday. But the entrepreneur and developer, who also owns the Essex Resort Spa and Essex Cinemas, plans to stick around and focus his energies on several passion projects already in the works, including a new entertainment complex within the Essex Experience and a food- and medicinal plant-themed retreat at the inn. “I’m aging out,” said Edelmann, who’s 73. “There are things I want to see happen that I could do if I stayed with it, but then I’d be 80. There are too many other things I want to do.” Edelmann isn’t selling the entire shopping center. Because the Essex Experience is financially structured as a condo complex, he will continue to own and operate Essex Cinemas, which he plans to upgrade, and the Double E performance center, which has become a thriving music venue and entertainment space. “Money’s the driver for sure,” he explained, noting that he’s built up a lot of equity but struggled with cash flow in recent years, especially during the pandemic when the theaters, restaurants and stores were all shuttered. In the past eight years, Edelmann has also invested heavily in upgrades to the nearby resort, with renewable energy projects and a new banquet hall and event space. Edelmann will continue to maintain minority ownership stakes in several of the shopping center’s businesses, including Black Flannel Brewing Distilling, Uncommon Coffee, Purple Salt Spa Salon, the Bramble restaurant, and Magic Mann Premium Cannabis. “The children are all growing up,” he said with a laugh, referring to the businesses he helped incubate. “I want to make sure that whoever buys it is … going to hold true to what we’ve done.” Edelmann’s latest passion projects include a new entertainment center, called Phun, now under construction in 15,000 square feet of space next to the Hannaford supermarket in Essex. Phun will feature duckpin bowling; Krazy Darts, a high-tech dart game involving video projections; an arcade with both modern and retro video games; and a sports bar and dining room. He described the theme of Phun as “competitive socializing.” At the Essex Resort Spa, Edelmann has also broken ground on a retreat center that will include culinary and medicinal gardens, modeled after the gardens designed by landscape architect Ken Mills in Colchester. He is also partnering with Rosemary Gladstar, whom he called “the fairy godmother of the herbal world,” and Charlotte stonemason Pete Demick. Edelmann plans to incorporate the work of Vermont artists as well, including installations by Jericho Center sculptor Chris Cleary. All the business owners in the Essex Experience have been notified that the shopping center is for sale, though no interested buyers have come forward as yet. J.L. Davis Realty is the listing agent for the shopping center, which has an asking price of $27.75 million. “I will still be a tenant, and we’ll all be in the same boat,” Edelmann added. “I want to make sure that whoever buys it will have a few guardrails … and [tenants] will not be priced out of the marketplace.” Beginning in 1993, Edelmann purchased the financially beleaguered inn and then-dying strip mall, trying various approaches to make those spaces more community-oriented and commercially viable. The shopping center’s evolution took decades. Edelmann endured years of financial setbacks and disappointments, especially when the state abandoned its plan to build a regional highway that would have sped thousands of shoppers directly to his center. The New England Culinary Institute left his food-themed resort. Amazon decimated his brick-and-mortar retailers, and online streaming services stole his theatergoers. And when the pandemic hit in March 2020, Edelmann still had a $200,000 tax bill to pay. Today, the Essex Experience is among the most desirable retail centers in Vermont, filled almost entirely with locally owned businesses. Edelmann’s focus on sustainability and renewable energy has attracted international attention, and he is regularly contacted by out-of-state developers who want him to replicate the Essex Experience model in other towns and cities. Edelmann, who brims with enthusiasm and new ideas, emphasized that after 33 years as a landlord, he’s not slowing down, just shifting his priorities. As he put it, “I’ve been a shepherd long enough.” The post Essex Experience Goes Up for Sale, but Longtime Owner Peter Edelmann Plans to Stay Involved appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less