A local developer is working to buy the former General Reinsurance Corp. headquarters in Stamford, according to multiple sources, with the site among the prized office buildings in all of Fairfield County.
A Building and Land Technology L.L.C. staffer referred a request for comment to a company manager, who did not immediately respond to confirm any interest in the building at 695 E. Main St.
The company”™s CEO is Carl Kuehner III, who has proved among the most aggressive local developers throughout the recession, wielding what some have described as a blank check from financial partner Lubert-Adler of Philadelphia. BLT is leading the development of Harbor Point where it has its main office, a massive mixed-use project in Stamford”™s South End that has drawn the headquarters of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. and several other prominent employers.
Even as it has built out Harbor Point, BLT has acquired multiple other Stamford office buildings, including the building Gen Re moved to at 120 Long Ridge Road in Stamford.
Gen Re received some $9 million in financing to relocate within Stamford last year, with the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary employing more than 800 people here.
The 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. threw ownership of 695 E. Main St. into dispute in a tangled web of stakes involving Bank of America Corp. Last year, Lehman won control of the building and hired New York City-based L&L Holding Co. L.L.C. to lead a multimillion-dollar renovation, while retaining Cushman & Wakefield to scout out buyers for the building.
Less than six months later, a deal may be nearing completion for the 580,000-square-foot building. In addition to the additional revenue any new tenants would bring BLT, a purchase of 695 E. Main St. would bring into its portfolio a prime competitor to its Harbor Point office buildings, as well as those owned by RFR Realty, the largest real estate owner in Stamford.
While 695 E. Main St. is only one of multiple buildings in Stamford to idle mostly empty, brokers agree it represents one of the county”™s best addresses to draw a major employer from New York City.
Only in October, Cushman & Wakefield predicted more than a half-dozen leases totaling some 100,000 square feet each would be inked before the end of the year in Fairfield County and Westchester County, N.Y. Entering December, just one deal that large had been revealed ”“ NBC Sports”™ plan to create a huge TV studio at the site of the former Clairol plant in Stamford.
Private equity investors of all kinds continue to raise cash to invest in commercial real estate property, with Lubert-Adler raising $400 million in the past year for real estate acquisitions. More locally, Greenwich-based Wheelock Capital raised a similar amount only last month, with the company having already acquired several portfolios nationwide since its 2008 formation, none disclosed in Connecticut.
Even as Building and Land Technology has continued to build out Harbor Point, the company has expanded its business model in other areas. It now has a BLT Solutions unit that provides advisory services to financial companies looking to maximize the value of real estate holdings in their portfolios, including properties laboring under distressed debt scenarios. And BLT has undisclosed private equity stakes in William Pitt Sotheby”™s International, among the largest real estate agencies operating in Fairfield County, and Foundation Source, which provides outsourced support services to nonprofits.
