Highgrove, downtown Stamford”™s luxury 18-story high-rise apartment building at 70 Forest St., has been sold to a private investment group led by Stamford-based Steven Wise Associates LLC for $87.5 million, according to CBRE Group Inc.
Jeffrey Dunne, Gene Pride and Travis Langer of CBRE”™s Institutional Properties represented Highgrove”™s owner, Winthrop Realty Trust of Boston, in the sale.
According to CBRE, Highgrove sold for what amounts to $940,860 for each of its 93 units. Designed by Manhattan architect Robert A. M. Stern, it was originally built in 2011 as a condominium community featuring stylings and amenities comparable to exclusive doorman residences of Manhattan. The building features ultra-luxury amenities often found in single-family estates such as ceilings at least 10 feet tall, private elevator entrances, a media screening room, wine cellar, sauna, steam room and pool.
Winthrop purchased the building in 2013 from Starwood Capital Group in Greenwich for a reported $80 million.
In 2014 Winthrop announced it was liquidating its assets in the interest of shareholders and would no longer be taking on new investments.
In announcing the Highgrove sale, Winthrop stated gross proceeds totaled $90 million, including $2.5 million retained after the failure of an undisclosed previous buyer earlier this year.
After satisfying debt on the property and closing costs, Winthrop pocketed slightly more than $8.6 million in the deal, according to the company.
CBRE said the new owners of Highgrove intend to continue operating the building as a premier rental community.
Wise”™s firm has made a number of high-profile purchases in Stamford, including the $17 million purchase of GE Capital”™s treasury headquarters at 201 High Ridge Road in 2015 and the $16.5 million cash purchase and redevelopment of the former Clairol offices in 2012. Today the property is known as The Campus, housing NBCUniversal, Chelsea Piers Connecticut and the Hospital for Special Surgery.
In Westchester County, Wise in 2015 partnered with affiliates of the Manocherian family, a prominent family in Manhattan residential and commercial real estate, to purchase the former MBIA Insurance Corp. headquarters in Armonk in a $23 million cash deal.
