L.L. Bean to set up outpost
Three years after first confirming it had considered Fairfield County for a retail store, L.L. Bean Inc. is finally arriving, taking the last major piece of vacant space in the former Filene”™s store at Danbury Fair Mall.
The Maine-based company”™s CEO Chris McCormick attended high school in Redding. In 2008, L.L. Bean established its first Connecticut location in Orange.
L.L. Bean is taking 15,000 square feet of space at Danbury Fair, with plans to open next spring. The mall is also home to Dick”™s Sporting Goods, Eastern Mountain Sports and Eddie Bauer, among other outdoors apparel and equipment retailers.
In addition to Dick”™s Sporting Goods, other companies to fill the Filene”™s space include Brio Tuscan Grille, The Cheesecake Factory and Forever 21.
“When Danbury Fair was originally built, shopping centers were designed with a very traditional approach to anchors,” said John Kinsella, assistant vice president of leasing, in a prepared statement. “We had the opportunity to take a fresh look at Danbury Fair ”¦ What we are creating is a new, complementary ”˜anchor”™ experience.”
Other new retailers at Danbury Fair include Brooks Bros. and Bebe.
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Stamford office building recapitalized
Sovereign Bank reportedly provided $11.5 million in financing for 750 E. Main St. in Stamford.
Quincy, Mass.-based Marcone Capital Inc. disclosed the transaction to New England Real Estate Journal, saying the current owner acquired the building from Royal Bank of Scotland for $17 million this past June.
The 104,000-square-foot building is 63 percent leased, with tenants including Home Service USA, Parexel International and Rochdale Securities.
Chocopologie expands to Greenwich
Chocopologie opened a Greenwich store at 30 W. Putnam Ave., its second in Fairfield County after its flagship Norwalk location.
Run by Knipschildt Chocolate, the company”™s retail locations offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the craft of making chocolate.
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Quest opens testing center in Bridgeport
Quest Diagnostics opened a new health care facility at 970 E. Main St. in Bridgeport, its fifth medical testing service center in the area.
“With this new storefront facility up and running, patients of our nearby clinic will have greater access to laboratory testing services ”“ right in their community, within walking distance from us,” said Ludwig Spinelli, CEO of Optimus Health Care Inc. in Bridgeport, in a written statement.
Quest has its main Connecticut laboratory in Wallingford and a rapid-response lab in Stratford.
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Morgan Stanley leases in Ridgefield
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney took a 10-year lease for more than 8,500 square feet of space at 90 Grove St. in Ridgefield.
Danbury-based Goodfellow Ashmore Corfac International represented the owner of the Executive Pavilion building, with Cushman & Wakefield assisting Morgan Stanley in its search for a site for a wealth management office.
Postal Service to shutter Stamford facility
The U.S. Postal Service said it will close a mail-processing facility in Stamford, one of two in Connecticut it plans to sell off along with a center in Wallingford.
In all, the U.S. Postal Service is shutting down some 250 mail processing centers nationally with first-class mail off by a quarter in the past five years.
The Stamford center is at 427 West Ave. and employs 400 people; the U.S. Postal Service intends to shift mail-sorting duties to a center in Westchester County, N.Y., with a likely impact on mail delivery times for Fairfield County.
Southport Crossing property gets funding
Southport Crossing L.L.C. secured $6 million in financing for a two-story office building in Fairfield.
Westerly, R.I.-based Washington Trust provided the loan on the building at 3530 Post Road, which has nearly 38,000 square feet of space on 1 acre of land.
