Don”™t tell Doug Winshall that rents are trending down, vacancy rates are heading up or visions of corporate expansions are wishful thinking in Fairfield County.
Stop by 75 Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich, which Winshall”™s ClearRock Properties bought this past summer, and you”™ll see building confidence in the form of Sheetrock and paint as ClearRock plows nearly $2 million into an overhaul even before landing tenants for available spaces in the building.
It”™s not an unfamiliar sight across Greenwich and Fairfield County. The building at 600 Steamboat Road in Greenwich is undergoing its own multimillion-dollar renovation by an affiliate of owner General Reinsurance Corp. in advance of filling out suites. Building and Land Technology (BLT) is outfitting 695 E. Main St. in Stamford for one or more tenants and at Merritt 7 Corporate Park in Norwalk, owners Clarion Partners and Marcus Partners launched a multi-year capital improvement program.
New York City-based ClearRock”™s investment in 75 Holly Hill Lane is also a vote of confidence in Fairfield County”™s commercial real estate market, and by extension, its upper-tier employers like finance and professional services firms.
And there has been ample reason for confidence of late. In a sizeable expansion, the Manhattan-based hedge fund Millennium Partners L.P. renewed a lease at 1700 E. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich, with its more than 40,000 square feet nearly double the original space it secured there in 2006.
Cushman & Wakefield, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) and RHYS Commercial all listed that deal among the most notable of the third quarter in Fairfield County, with Cervalis the biggest deal of the quarter at more than 165,000 square feet for a planned data center at 10 Norden Park in Norwalk.
Despite several prominent deals in the third quarter ”“ particularly Charter Communications Inc.”™s new Stamford headquarters of more than 70,000 square feet at 400 Atlantic St. in Stamford ”“ Fairfield County landlords faced additional space going onto the market a third straight quarter, including UBS AG which emptied four full floors at 400 Atlantic St. totaling nearly 150,000 square feet, even as BLT readies its BLT Financial Centre at 695 E. Main St. for tenants.
NGKF calculated a slight decline in the average asking rent in Fairfield County to about $32.50 per square foot, though some markets like Greenwich saw an increase. The countrywide availability rate increased negligibly to 25.2 percent, according to NGKF, with new lease deals accounting for just over half of all activity, renewals accounting for a third, and the rest subleases.
Cushman & Wakefield reported leasing volume through the first three quarters was the second lowest in the past 10 years.
“Despite the lackluster numbers, there is significant promise in the future for the Fairfield County office market,” said Jim Fagan, senior managing director in Cushman & Wakefield”™s Stamford office, in a prepared statement.
“Stamford is being transformed right before our very eyes ”“ new residential projects are thriving in Stamford”™s South End, new restaurants are opening, there”™s the possibility of ferry service to Manhattan, unique venues like Chelsea Piers Connecticut have opened and our employer base is becoming more diversified with companies like NBC Sports. All of these factors are contributing towards making Stamford a more dynamic place to work.”
