A Manhattan private equity firm and an India-based outsourcing firm have established offices in Stamford as employers continue to buoy the region”™s real estate market despite the problems in residential mortgages.
First Source, which performs mundane business processes for other companies, made 177 Broad St. in Stamford its North American headquarters. Meanwhile, private equity investor Cowen Healthcare Royalty Management is relocating to the building from midtown Manhattan.
The ink is still drying on the deed to the building, after RFR Holding L.L.C. acquired it as part of the purchase of seven trophy buildings in Stamford from Blackstone Group Inc.
Fairfield County”™s dwindling available office space continues to hike rents, according to fresh statistics from Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate brokerage company. As of the third quarter, the county had an overall vacancy rate of 13 percent, down from 14.5 percent a year ago.
During the past year, rents have climbed from $29.40 per square foot to $32.60, an 11 percent increase.
Of the county”™s submarkets, the central towns of Westport and Fairfield had the lowest vacancy rate at 6.6 percent, though up from the vacancy rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2006.
Stamford”™s outlying business district near the Merritt Parkway improved from last year”™s occupancy levels, but still has the worst vacancy rate in the county at 16.1 percent.
That rate is expected to improve further as Building and Land Technology Inc. markets the former headquarters of Xerox Corp. As of the third quarter, the overall vacancy rate in downtown Stamford was 14.6 percent, up from 14.1 percent a year ago. Excluding subleases, however, the vacancy rate plunged a full percentage point to 9.6 percent in the past year, and asking rents are up to $38 per square foot from $33.60 a year ago.
Still, Stamford is a bargain next to Manhattan, where rents hit an all-time high in the third quarter despite a slowdown in leasing activity in most parts of the city, save midtown.
Besides FirstSource and Cowen Healthcare Royalty Management, other companies signing leases with RFR include:
Â
Ӣ Finn Dixon & Herling L.L.P., which added 2,000 square feet at 177 Broadway, giving it 29,000 square feet in all; and
Ӣ Harman International, an audio and electronics company that took 2,000 square feet at Two Stamford Plaza.
Â
Â
The leases demonstrate the building”™s quality and location near the Stamford train station, according to Margaret Carlson, director of RFR”™s portfolio of buildings in Connecticut.
Investors have been attracted to even the outskirts of Stamford”™s central business district; 750 Stamford Partners L.L.C. recently completed a multimillion-dollar facelift at 750 E. Main St.
“The redevelopment of downtown Stamford will support the productivity and growth of the city”™s central business district,” said Jim Fagan, senior managing director and head of Cushman & Wakefield”™s Fairfield and Westchester County offices. “The east side of Stamford will undergo a complete revitalization that will further it as a thriving business and residential community.”
Â
Â
Â
