With its onetime revolving restaurant dormant for more than three years, the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa has finally found a use for its room with a view ”“ as a suite of flex offices managed by a Westchester County, N.Y. company.
White Plains-based Stark Office Suites plans to create turnkey office space atop the Stamford Marriott, with stationary views of Long Island Sound, as the floor will no longer revolve.
The 11,500-square-foot penthouse suite has been vacant since 2007 when Vuli Restaurant shut down, and as the case with other failed rotating restaurants has defied easy solutions for new uses given its unusual configuration. The restaurant had been run by the family of Zef Vulevic, a chef also known as Joe Vuli who was killed in 2004. In early March, his nephew Marash Gojcaj was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the murder.
Stark Office Suites plans to open its newest facility by this summer, catering both to small businesses seeking space for a few months duration, as well as those looking for a long-term room with a view. It marks the company”™s first locale in Connecticut, after opening five offices in New York, most recently in early 2009 in Scarsdale. Starks”™ largest location is at One Grand Central Place in New York City, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.
Stark has 400 clients today, most of them professionals in finance, law and consulting.
The appeal of office suites lies in their furnished and equipped office and conference room space, a receptionist, a presence in a major business district and access to sister offices in other cities.
The industry is characterized by a mix of national and multinational companies, as well as those like Stark Office Suites or the Stamford-based Connecticut Business Centers that operate multiple suites locally.
Regus PLC, which operates four flex-office suites each in Fairfield County and Westchester County, added nearly 50 centers between July and October last year despite revenue increasing just 1 percent during that period. Still, as late as November the company told Crain”™s New York Business that it was offering four months of free rent in Manhattan in a bid to sign more tenants.
Stark Office Suites President Adam Stark said his company has yet to set rates for space in Stamford, and could not yet say whether they would be in line with rates at other office suite companies with a presence in Stamford.
Stark said his company has not followed the experience of the overall commercial real estate markets, adding that it has been able to find tenants in the form of business professionals who have lost jobs at larger corporations and have put out their own shingle.
“When the markets are headed south, people get nervous and flexibility becomes key,” Stark said. “When the economy is on an upswing, companies expand into new space and we see an increase in the virtual (office) market.”
Stark Office Suites is offering “virtual” office services at the Stamford location ”“ essentially a mailing address and access to conference space for professionals who work mostly from their home or on the road. And Stark points out tenants will also get access to services from the Stamford Marriott ”“ including discount space in hotel conference rooms and access to a pool and fitness center.
The company typically seeks long-term leases of at least a decade and has been actively scouting locations in Connecticut hoping to get a good deal before lease rates begin to rebound.
