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Hippo | July 1 - 7, 2010 | Page 18
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hired a management company to run it. At
the time, the FDIC had so many properties,
there was little oversight of the management
companies, and as a result, Sullivan said,
Bass Island Estates was run down, mismanaged
and half empty, with all but a handful of
tenants behind in rent. Sullivan said he and
Brady wanted everyone out, so they could
clean the place up.
AS: The first month Shane and I had it,
we had to get a police detail to be there at
night. We emptied the whole property, renovated
it, re-tenanted it and just repositioned
the property from a class C to a good B or Bplus
property.
So, once that was done, you rented it again
as apartments?
AS: Yes. We developed a positive cash
flow, which propelled us to do more deals.
May Gruber, Manchester
institution
When May Gruber spoke with John
Andrews for the June, 21, 2007, issue of the
Hippo, she was photographed wearing a
“01.20.09” shirt and an Al Gore for president
button. With her husband Sol Sidore, Gruber
stared the Pandora factory in the 1950s.
She also helped to start a weekly newspaper
in Manchester (the long-defunct Manchester
Free Press), the Manchester Community
Music School, the New Hampshire Symphony
and the League of Women Voters of New
Hampshire.
You do spend a lot of time between New
York and Goffstown. What keeps you coming
back?
When I became president of Pandora ... the
manufacturing was here and the showroom
was in New York. And so I shuttled back
and forth to be in each place because, one,
you had to be aware of what the customers
were saying, and two, you had to be aware of
what we were manufacturing. After I sold it,
I was so accustomed to going back and forth,
I couldn’t give up either, because I love my
home in Goffstown, and I have a very nice
place in New York. It’s really a studio apartment,
but it’s right near my alma mater, NYU.
It’s a neighborhood familiar to me. …
Are politics different in New York than
they are here?
I don’t get involved in politics in New
York. I live in New Hampshire. I pay taxes in
New Hampshire. I vote in New Hampshire.
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June 21, 2007 September 20, 2007
March 12, 2009
I founded the Goffstown Democratic Club.
I think I can make more of an imprint here
where it counts.
Do you consider New York more of a, New
York is your second home, this is your first
home?
New York is my fun place. I go to museums
and I go to shows and I see art movies
that you never see here. I shop in stores ... it’s
just for fun. And doctors — my internist is in
New York ... [He] has a specialty in geriatrics,
and since I’m very old, I think that’s the
right thing to do.
Do you still get over to the mills in
Manchester?
My office is in the mill building because
we still have quite a bit of interest in it. We
sold Pandora, but we did not sell the buildings
they were in. We now have the building that
used to be our distribution center, and I think
it’s the longest building in the Millyard ... and
we also own the former locomotive works.
We just bought it back from Dunn Furniture.
And then we also own the little mall across
the street, which we had bought to protect the
Pandora factory store so that we would have
more parking.
Michael Buckley, chef
Area foodies know Michael Buckley. In this
age in which chefs have fans and followers,
Buckley has given his devotees three places to
try his food: Surf in Nashua, Buckley’s Great
Steaks in Merrimack and his original claim to
local foodie fame, Michael Timothy’s Urban
Bistro in Nashua. You can find Buckley and/
or his food at many of the local foodie events
and he’s one of the chefs slated to participate
in the Have Knives, Will Travel chef-exchange
event at Richard’s Bistro. Susan Ware talked
to Buckley for the Sept. 20, 2007, issue of the
Hippo.
Why New Hampshire?
I’m a local guy. I grew up in Brookline. Sarah
[Buckley’s wife] is from Hollis; we knew
each other in high school but didn’t date until
later on. We live in Hollis now with our three
kids. It’s not where you are but what you do
that counts.
Did you always want to own your own
restaurant?
Yes, my goal was to own one. I’d say most
chefs like the idea of having their own place.
It’s lots of hard work, and it isn’t for every-
one. Some are happy just cooking, and when
they punch out they can go golfing. When
you’re an owner, it is very different, it is 24/7.
It is hard to leave the job when you go home.
How do you juggle the demands of the
restaurant business and family?
I am extremely fortunate to have a wife
who completely understands this business.
She puts in a lot of hours at the restaurants
and gets what it takes to be successful in this
business. My kids are fantastic. When I get
home there is never all this drama about dad
not being home; they all understand and support
our goals.
Tell me about the menu.
At Michael Timothy’s we change the menu
every month. There are house specialties, but
not because we say they are, but because people
tell us they are. Sometimes we’ll take
something off of the menu and believe me
I’ll hear about it. I can’t imagine taking off
the Mediterranean salad, tournedos of beef,
seared duck, white chocolate crème brulée
or warm, soft chocolate cake. People would
have fits. We took the field salad off once — a
simple dish with scallion sour cream dressing
and ham croutons — and we got a lot of feedback
about it, so we put it back on. …
What advice would you give someone considering
opening a restaurant?
I have to be careful not to offend anyone
here. First, if you do not have solid restaurant
experience, front and back, you end up
relying on a few key employees, which you
become hostage to. If they aren’t good, or
they leave you, you are in big trouble. It is
a very risky way to do business. The restaurant
business is extremely tough. Margins are
very small and getting smaller all the time as
labor, food and energy costs keep going up. It
isn’t just a job.
John H. Sununu,
NH Republican Party head
For New Hampshire Republicans, there
was a bright spot to the losses for November
2008 — they got John H. Sununu, former governor
and chief of staff to President George
H. W. Bush, fired up. He took over as head
of the state party organization in early 2009
and has spent the months since then laying
the groundwork for the 2010 elections. He
spoke with Jeff Mucciarone for the March 12,
2009, issue of the Hippo.