GREENWICH, CONN. — Brennan Investment Group, a U.S.-based real estate firm, and a client of Arch Street Capital Advisors, a Greenwich, Conn.-based real estate investment advisory firm, have formed a fifth joint venture to acquire, own and manage a substantial portfolio of industrial properties throughout the United States. The venture will focus on acquiring individual industrial assets in major markets in the United States that are critical facilities to tenants and leased on a long-term basis. In conjunction with the formation of the venture, Goldman Sachs provided the venture with a financing line of credit facility to enhance the venture’s efficiency in closing both portfolio and individual asset purchases. The new venture has already purchased nearly 900,000 square feet of industrial real estate in Dallas; Charlotte, N.C.; and Green Bay, Wis. Brennan and Arch Street have collectively acquired 77 properties comprising more than 12 million square feet in the single-tenant, net lease sector during the last five years. The companies seek net leased industrial investments meeting the following criteria: location in the top 100 U.S. markets, remaining lease term of at least 10 years, non-investment grade credits, and significant facility investment by the tenant. They are interested in all industrial …
DANBURY, Conn. — CBRE represented the seller Beachwold Residential in the sale of Willow Grove, a 135-unit Class A apartment community located in Danbury to an affiliate of Friedkin Realty for $31.25 million. The property, built in 1999, features a clubroom, fitness center and oversized pool, and oversized apartments. Beachwold renovated three-quarters of the apartments in the last few years. Jeffrey Dunne, Gene Pride and Eric Apfel of CBRE represented the seller.
SHELTON, CONN. — Sun Equity Partners has purchased a flex building located at 710 Bridgeport Ave. in Shelton. RA 710 Bridgeport Avenue LLC, an entity controlled by RNY Property Trust, sold the property for $26.2 million. At the time of sale, the 452,414-square-foot property was 72 percent leased by a variety of tenants, including PerkinElmer Health Sciences and Panolam Industries International. The property is approximately 30 percent office and R&D space, with the remainder warehouse and distribution space. Additionally, the facility features 16 loading docks and nearly 870 parking spaces. Jeffrey Dunne and Steven Bardsley of CBRE represented the seller and procured the buyer in the deal.
ASHFORD, CONN. — Northeast Private Client Group has brokered the sale of Ashford Hills Apartments, a 52-unit apartment community located at 95 Varga Road in Ashford. Brookline, Mass.-based Naviah Investment LLC acquired the property from Affordable Realty One LLC for $3 million. Bradley Balletto and Taylor Perum of Northeast Private Client Group represented the undisclosed seller and sourced the buyer in the deal. The property features 28 one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom units with parking.
OLD SAYBROOK, CONN. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a retail property located at 107 Main St. in Old Saybrook. An undisclosed limited liability company acquired the 3,690-square-foot property for $3 million. Laurie Ann Drinkwater and Seth Richard of Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale. The name of the seller was not released.
With employment representing one of the most critical factors in the health of the office sector, people naturally look to the unemployment rate as a key metric to quickly assess a given market. By this standard, Fairfield County should be thriving, with the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent in April 2017 — just under the 4.8 percent rate reached just prior to the recession. And yet, the availability rate in Connecticut’s largest office market stood at 24.5 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2017 — a far cry from the 15.2 percent rate seen at year-end 2007. There are two reasons for the discrepancy. First, it is far more accurate to look at office-using employment (information, financial, professional services and other industries) versus overall employment as a barometer. While office-using employment has rebounded approximately 4.0 percent since the depths of the latest recession, today’s count is still 8.4 percent lower than the latest peak. Second, a marked shift in the desired style of office and an upswing in remote working opportunities have led to reduced utilization rates in terms of square feet per employee. Today’s employers want to be in buildings that make their employees happy and …
STAMFORD, CONN. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Stamford Towers, a two-building office property located in Stamford’s central business district. SL Green and TH Real Estate sold the property to CBRE Global Investors for $97 million. Tenants at the Class A property include Citigroup, UBS Financial Services, H/2 Credit Manager, Titan Advisors, Gerald Metals, Bank of Ireland, Oaktree Capital, Oppenheimer, CoreCommodity and Newmark. Jeffery Dunne, David Gavin and Travis Langer of CBRE Institutional Properties represented the sellers in the transaction.
One might expect that the industrial real estate market is in rough shape in a state with a projected $1.7 billion state budget deficit, where the capital city (Hartford) has discussed bankruptcy, and where one of the most famous employers (General Electric) has moved out — not to mention the state’s high taxes and high wages. However, the industrial real estate market is one of the tightest I’ve seen in Connecticut in more than 31 years. Each region in the state is experiencing varied levels of success, but overall the industrial market is healthy, with dropping vacancy rates, increasing rental rates, and decreasing cap rates. The game changer is big box distribution and third-party logistics activity throughout the region. In a market where a 75,000-square-foot deal used to be major news, we have seen numerous leases and new construction deals over 200,000 square feet in the past two years. E-commerce activity includes Amazon (1.5 million square feet in Windsor), FedEx (550,000 square feet in Middletown), and UPS (239,000 square feet in Windsor). Other significant transactions include Trader Joe’s (750,000 square feet in Bloomfield), Mobis Parts America (291,000 square feet in South Windsor), Vistar NE (296,000 square feet in South Windsor), …
NORTH HAVEN, CONN. — O,R&L Commercial has arranged the sale of an industrial park located at 222 Universal Drive in North Haven. The 11-building park totals 133,283 square feet; each building is on separate utilities. Corporate Drive Properties acquired the park from Branco Inc. for $3.7 million. Frank Hird of O,R&L Commercial represented the seller, while Bryan Atherton of Northeast Investment Realty represented the buyer in the transaction.
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. — Angel Commercial has arranged the sale of a retail strip center located at 4086-4108 Main St. in Bridgeport. A private investor acquired the property from Applebaum Schneider for $1 million. Luigi’s Italian Pastries anchors the 6,380-square-foot property. Lester Fradkoff of Angel Commercial represented the seller and buyer in the deal.