LYNN — Owners of RE/MAX360 Al and Katie DiVirgilio purchased the former George’s Flower Shop at 471 Lynnfield St. to open another office for their real estate company.
The duo recently purchased the property and are renovating the interior and exterior in hopes of having agents in the office by August.
Al DiVirgilio started the company about five years ago, with his wife Katie, and it has since grown to having seven offices across the North Shore with about 100 agents. The Lynnfield Street office will act as the business’ headquarters once it is opened.
He said he is hoping to have a grand opening for the space in September, after his agents have had time to settle in and get comfortable in the new office.
The purchase of the former flower shop — which DiVirgilio said he had wanted to acquire even before he got into real estate — comes with a greenhouse next to the main building, which DiVirgilio said he hopes to use as a venue for neighborhood and private events.
The greenhouse had already moved twice from other locations in Lynn; it is old and needs to be updated, but is “structurally sound.”
In the future, DiVirgilio said they may update the space into a more modern greenhouse, but there are no definite plans for that yet.
For now, he said, they want to use it to host private events, fundraisers and gatherings, whether industry related or just something the neighborhood can enjoy.
“Once you get past Wyoma Square (heading toward the Lynnfield rotary), there’s really no space for people to host anything,” DiVirgilio said. “For the Ward 1 community of the city, there’s really nowhere to go, so it’d be nice to utilize the greenhouse the best we can.”
Some ideas DiVirgilio said he has been thinking about include hosting pop-up events, selling Christmas trees as a fundraiser, erecting a pumpkin patch and offering coffee and cider donuts to the community on a Saturday or Sunday during the fall.
“We’re looking at various ways that the space can be used and enjoyed over time,” DiVirgilio said.
Some other ideas he said he has been exploring include yoga nights, private wine-tasting events and ice-cream socials.
“We just want to do things that the neighborhood would know about and can come down and take part in,” DiVirgilio said. “We are looking to try to do something once a month just to keep some activity going up in that area.”
DiVirgilio said his 5-year-old daughter, Vivian, has been calling the new property “Vivian’s greenhouse,” so he plans on creating an online community newsletter under that name. The newsletter will include updates on events and happenings at the property.
But as for now, DiVirgilio said the office is mainly focused on the newly-acquired building and how it can best suit the agents — and they’ll shift the focus to incorporating the greenhouse aspect later.
