A year after assuming full ownership of a 17.9-acre, 780,000-square-foot office complex overlooking the Stamford waterfront, George Comfort & Sons Inc. and Angelo, Gordon & Co. have renamed the property and are in the process of a $40 million overhaul.
With renovations planned for all six of the buildings that comprise Shippan Landing, Peter S. Duncan of developer George Comfort said he hopes to reinvigorate the development, which is about 45 percent occupied.
“We think it”™s a great asset and kind of under-operated,” said Duncan, president and CEO of New York City-based George Comfort, which also owns the 572,800-square-foot High Ridge Park development in Stamford.
Due in part to the previous ownership, Duncan said the property “has gotten a little tattered around the edges, so we”™re back in there repositioning the buildings.”
The property, previously called Harbor Plaza, is situated on a peninsula that forms the end of Harbor Drive and looks across the water at Stamford”™s South End and developer Building & Land Technology (BLT) Inc.”™s Harbor Point complex.
Despite its waterfront location, Paul M. Jacobs of CBRE Inc., which represents the property, said the previous owner allowed the property to fall behind competing developments.
George Comfort and Angelo, Gordon, the latter an investment firm that specializes in alternative assets, purchased the loan on Harbor Plaza in 2010, and the partnership took over the property two years later when then-owner Harbor Plaza Associates defaulted on its debt.
“I think it was a property that was always one of the more outstanding, high-end waterfront projects in Stamford. And as a result, the former ownership didn”™t put a lot of money into it, and therefore, as tenants”™ leases expired, they didn”™t feel there was the proper quality management that was required,” said Jacobs, an executive vice president with CBRE”™s Stamford office.
The renovations, which are underway, include the replacement of all of the complex”™s windows, replacement of the mechanical systems in at least two buildings, and upgraded lobby spaces.
Additionally, the former Saltwater Grill, a restaurant space adjacent to 181 Harbor Drive that closed in November 2011, was demolished to open up the property, Jacobs said.
Office space will be replaced with amenities such as a cafeteria, conference center and exercise facilities at 232 Harbor Drive, which is the property”™s smallest building at just 23,000 square feet.
The five other buildings range in size from 91,040 square feet to 192,570 square feet, with the complex able to accommodate tenants requiring as little as 3,000 to 5,000 square feet or larger.
Two buildings ”“ 250 Harbor Drive and 262 Harbor Drive ”“ are fully occupied, but Duncan said even those would be the recipients of upgrades. He said George Comfort hopes to have “the lion”™s share” of its work completed by the end of 2013.
“We just think that with a little tender love and care, we should put this back to where it should be,” Duncan said.
The property”™s name change was spurred by the abundance of similarly titled developments, which include BLT”™s Harbor Point.
But despite the competition across the water, where BLT has attracted the likes of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates LP, Duncan said he is optimistic.
“We think it”™s all positive,” Duncan said. “We think that investment ”“ all that investment in the south point ”“ is fantastic for all of Stamford and we benefit from it as well.”
Jacobs said CBRE is “bullish” and that it has had numerous conversations with potential tenants.
“It”™s the only true waterfront complex (in the Stamford market) with unobstructed views,” Jacobs said. “So ”¦ you have the competition at Harbor Point, and yes, that”™s clearly competition and formidable competition, but we feel that our value play is considerable.”
