After selling a prime piece of Mandela Circle real estate for the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park, McLaughlin Arguin & Curreri Realtors has donated $10,000 to the St. John organization.
The two-acre property was sold for $2 million in June to Plessen Enterprises, which owns the Plaza Extra Supermarket in Tutu Park Mall. Plessen is planning to build a new supermarket on the Mandela property within the next two years, company officials have said.
The $10,000 donation represents the realty company's interest in the community, said Claire Mancilvalano, the McLaughlin Realtor who represented Plessen in the purchase.
"We hope other corporations might consider supporting the preservation of the physical beauty of the Virgin Islands which lures so many people to our shores, and allows generations of Virgin Islanders to grow up surrounded by beauty in its most natural state," Mancilvalano said.
"Like most commercial deals," she continued, "we encountered many bumps between offer, acceptance, and closing, but we got the deal done."
The Mandela property was given to the Friends of the National Park by a New York philanthropist in 1997.
McLaughlin Arguin & Curreri's founder, Frank McLaughlin, and his son Brendan, also a Realtor and appraiser, worked together closely on the transaction.
McLaughlin Arguin & Curreri, which has been doing business in the territory for 25 years, is closing August 31. Many of its Realtors, however, will remain active in Virgin Islands real estate. Mancivalano will be joining Curreri & Company, a new firm formed by Lisa Curreri, one of the principals of the shuttered outfit.
Frank McLaughlin will continue his practice as a consultant and mediator while Brendan McLaughlin will concentrate on the growth of Appraisal Associates, the real estate appraisal firm he owns and operates.