Stamford office readies for occupants
As an unsettling year in commercial real estate neared its conclusion, one of Stamford”™s biggest unresolved properties appeared to be nearing resolution after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. hired a company to find tenants for 695 E. Main St.
The former headquarters of General Re Corp. before it relocated its offices to north Stamford, the building has not been accepting new tenants as its tangled ownership claims have been worked out as part of Lehman Brothers”™ bankruptcy proceedings. In December, that process appears to have been successfully completed after Lehman Brothers hired New York City-based L&L Holding to “redevelop” the building, in its words, for new tenants.
Operational system upgrades coming
L&L plans to upgrade all operational systems in the complex, while redesigning and refurbishing interior spaces to accommodate multiple tenancies ”“ an apparent admission that securing a single, large tenant is not in the cards. The upgrade is expected to be completed within 12 to 16 months under plans. L&L will also handle leasing inquiries.
The reintroduction of 695 E. Main St. could put downward pressure on rents in downtown Stamford, adding some 580,000 square feet of space to the market that also will see the introduction of two new office buildings totaling more than 350,000 square feet in the Harbor Point development being built by Building & Land Technology.
As of the third quarter, the vacancy rate was 24.2 percent in Stamford”™s central business district, according to Cushman & Wakefield, versus 19.4 percent in all Fairfield County. Jim Fagan, the company”™s senior managing director in Stamford, said that the window should begin to close by next summer for tenants to grab new, long-term leases on very favorable terms.
Harbor Point iconic part of 2010
In Stamford”™s commercial real estate circles, 2010 may be best remembered for the vertical growth of multiple office and residential buildings at Harbor Point; as well as the November debut there of Fairway, the supermarket”™s first location in Connecticut that drew rave reviews.
Elsewhere in Stamford, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties voted the purchase of Procter & Gamble”™s former Clairol plant as the top sale of the year in Fairfield County, with the property subsequently leased to New York City-based Chelsea Piers for a large sports and entertainment complex and production studio.
The 700,000-square-foot complex was purchased by a joint venture of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners; Steven M. Wise Associates; and the Connecticut Film Center.
If the Chelsea Piers lease represented a major win for the joint venture and by extension Stamford, NAIOP tabbed Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.”™s lease of nearly 275,000 square feet of space at Building & Land Technology”™s 300 Ludlow St. as the county”™s lease of the year.
No less impressive was the signature deal of 2010 at the eastern end of the county, after R.D. Scinto completed construction of a 300,000-square-foot building in Shelton that drew Hubbell Inc. to relocate its headquarters there from Orange.
As developer Robert Scinto finalized the Hubbell project and pushed ahead with plans to build another industrial facility on Waterview Drive, he found himself in the headlines after admitting to lying to the FBI in connection with a probe of influence peddling at Shelton City Hall. The FBI questioned Scinto in connection with an investigation of developer James Botti, who was convicted of financial fraud in connection with attempts to bribe an unnamed Shelton town official as he developed a retail plaza on Bridgeport Ave.