Professional Profile: Ernie Pomerleau - 1981

Name: Ernie Pomerleau - 1981

Title: President

Company: Pomerleau Real Estate

Location: Burlington, VT

Birthplace: -

Pomerleau  has been involved in real estate since the age of six when he was a custodian in his father’s office. He now heads the company, which deals with commercial brokerage and sales, property management of company owned property, construction management and negotiating contracts. Also, they often do the contracting themselves unless they project is too big, then they are forced to call in subcontractors. Pomerleau states that they like to think of themselves as “small town specialists.” They are very much involved in Burlington and surrounding small towns with the development of shopping centers usually under 50,000 s/f. They receive much support from the state because of the fine job they do in developing these small retail areas. A recently completed project was the restoration of the historic Follet House in Burlington. A $700,000 project, the 140 year old building was purchased by Pomerlcaus in 1979. The property was a victim of arson and much of the third floor was destroyed. The building was authentically restored and is now headquarters for the Pomerleau agency. More recent is a $35 million waterfront development which is now awaiting the appropriate permits. The plans are for 100 condos, a hotel and retail space on 11 acres of Burlington waterfront. Other projects being worked on now or in the near future include a small shopping center in Swanton, enlarging Milton shopping center, expanding a small shopping center in Champlain to twice its size, and a waterfront project in Newport. Pomerleau, like his father, he loves the state of Vt. He feels that Burlington has a very cosmopolitan feeling with a diverse background made up of large medical center, many colleges – the largest being UVM, and many large corporations. Born in Burlington he attended high school there and was a business major at St. Michaels in Winooski. He worked summers during school moving hi sway up from the young custodian to construction, residential sales, property management, and when he graduated from college he handled his first shopping center development. Things have changed a lot since that first development. He feels that leasing was a lot easier then with the more stable economy. Lately, Pomerleau has felt the strain of the 20% interest rates. He says that many developments must be scratched, if not scratched then completely re-written in a way to compensate for the high rates. Innovative financing he feels is most important to the survival of any real estate firm in these hard times. Also important is the flexibility of the brokers as well as the tenants and developers. He states “with rising construction costs and permits harder to attain one must look at the hard times as a challenge, always looking for new ways to close deals instead of simply feeling the burden and laying stagnant.”