Building and Land Technology this month launched its newly branded Silicon Harbor office complex in the former Pitney Bowes facility in Stamford and is embarking on what it terms “a transformation” of the 500,000-square-foot building overlooking Long Island Sound.
The company cited technology and creative tenants as market drivers.
Silicon Harbor is the former world headquarters for PB at 1 Elmcroft Road in Harbor Point, BLT”™s “live, work, play” development that features offices, stores, restaurants and 2,360 residential apartments in nine buildings.
Carl R. Kuehner III, CEO of BLT, owner and developer of Harbor Point, made the announcement, which comes at the same time that the previously developed office space within Harbor Point has achieved 100 percent occupancy.
“Our transformation of this phenomenal property into Silicon Harbor is a response to the drivers of demand in today”™s office market,” Kuehner said. “Technology and creative tenants are driving office space absorption nationwide, and if we want Stamford and Fairfield County to benefit from that trend we need to offer the space they want. The financial sector will always be important here, but we need to broaden our horizons in order to diversify the local economy. It”™s up to us to go out and recruit the companies we want here, and to do that we are creating modernized space in an amenity-rich, transit-oriented package.”
Situated at the tip of the South End peninsula, Silicon Harbor offers views of Kosciuszko Park, Stamford Harbor and Long Island Sound. BLT acquired the property last summer and plans to substantially redevelop it, saying in a statement, “providing unique office space opportunities for today”™s workforce within a vibrant ”˜Live, Work, Play”™ community.
BLT has already relocated its own corporate offices to Silicon Harbor, freeing up its prior space at Harbor Point”™s 2200 Atlantic St. to accommodate Bridgewater Associates. Other new office tenants at Harbor Point include MC Credit Partners and Waypoint Residential. The office space within Harbor Point, which includes 2200 Atlantic St., 100 Washington Boulevard, 7 Market St., 711 Canal St. and 1 StarPoint, is now 100 percent leased, BLT said, citing “robust tenant demand.”
“Reaching 100 percent occupancy in the offices at Harbor Point is a significant achievement for us, and for the city,” Kuehner said. “We believe this activity bodes well for Silicon Harbor.”
The Harbor Point waterfront neighborhood food scene features Paloma restaurant, Bare Burger, Fortina Italian Restaurant and Corbo”™s Southside Deli. Other eateries nearby include Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Subway, Robeks Fruit Smoothies, Harlan Social, Asian Bistro and Le Pain Quotidien.
Other on-site retail includes Walgreens, Exhale Mind Body Fitness, Pinot”™s Palette, Go Green Dry Cleaners, Fairway Market, Fairway Wines & Spirits, Design Within Reach, Harbor Point Nails, Style Bar Salon, Harbor Point Dental, Spot Experience Canine Club and First Niagara Bank. Popular night spots include Sign of the Whale, World of Beer and the nearby Dolce Cubano and Crab Shell.
Privately held BLT”™s office holdings include the corporate addresses or headquarters for Bridgewater, Gen Re, GE Commercial Finance, Diageo, GE Real Estate, Xerox, GE Energy, AON/Hewitt, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, XL Group, Castleton Commodities International and Structured Portfolio Management.
In the statement, BLT said, “Stamford”™s stock of old corporate headquarters and multi-thousand-square-foot office buildings are being redesigned to attract a new generation of commercial tenants, with a particular focus on technology and media companies.”
“That”™s what we are seeing today, when you think about new economy type tenants, technology, marketing, advertising and IT firms, they are looking to be within that sort of mixed use ecosystem where they have great space, but they are also in a  great environment where they can get out and walk,” said  Ted Ferrarone, chief operating officer for BLT. “They are using the surrounding environment much more than a traditional office tenant would.”
