NewHavenBIZ

n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 2 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 25 W h a t ' s T h e D e a l ? Fairfield Best Western hotel sells for $6.45M By Greg Bordonaro, Michelle Tuccitto Sullo & Liese Klein A hotel in Fairfield recently trad- ed hands for $6.45 million, property records show. e 58-room Best Western Plus Fair- field Hotel on Kings Highway Cutoff sold in December. e buyer was Fairfield Hotel Group LLC, which is controlled by Mahendra Patel of Meriden, state records show. e seller was Blackrock Acquisition LLC, which is controlled by Kirtikumar S. Patel, Dev G. Patel, Girishbhai Patel and Rahul G. Patel, who share a New Haven business address at 41 Trumbull St., state records show. e sellers originally purchased the property in 2014 for $6 million, proper- ty records show. e hotel was built in 1958, sits on 0.89 acres and has 45 surface parking spaces, according to CoStar. e sale comes amid a still-challeng- ing time for the hotel industry, which has not recovered from the pandemic. For example, the average U.S. hotel occupancy rate from Jan. 9 to 15, was 48.8%, down 16.3% from the com- parable week in pre-pandemic 2019, according to industry tracker STR. e average daily rate for a U.S. hotel during that same time period this year was $122.12, down 1.6% from 2019, according to STR. ere is a trend in Connecticut and nationwide of developers purchasing struggling hotels and converting them into apartments. Enfield trash haulers, recyclers buy Stratford industrial building for $5.6M e owners of a growing Greater Hartford trash-hauling and recycling company have purchased a Stratford warehouse for $5.6 million. Frank Antonacci, the chief operating officer at Enfield-based USA Hauling & Recycling, and Gerald Antonacci are the principals of a limited liability com- pany that late last year purchased the 56,300-square-foot warehouse at 1410 Honeyspot Road Ext., in Stratford. In an email, Frank Antonacci con- firmed that one of his subsidiaries, Mur- phy Road Recycling, intends to operate the property as a recycling facility. e seller was AMEC Holdings LLC, which is controlled by Guy Mazzola, who is the president and founder of Norwalk construction management company AMEC Cos., state records show. AMEC Holdings bought the prop- erty in 2017 for $5.1 million, records show. Antonacci's family-owned compa- nies have been on a growth streak in recent years. Last March, Murphy Road Recycling announced plans to invest $30 million to build a modern recycling center in Berlin. In 2020, USA Hauling & Recycling, whose trucks and crews pick up waste from across Connecticut as well as in western Massachusetts, paid $1.85 million to purchase LEGO's former- ly-owned, 105,000-square-foot Enfield office complex at 555 Taylor Road. At the time of the purchase, An- tonacci said his company intended to consolidate approximately six satellite locations — including its longtime headquarters at 15 Mullen Road in Enfield — and move customer service, engineering, finance, collections and accounting departments to Taylor Road. New Haven retail/medical office building sells for $4.3M A New Haven freestanding retail/ medical office property has sold for $4.3 million, records show. e 14,550-square-foot property at 137 Water St., sold late last year. e buyer was Quincy, Massachu- setts-based e Grossman Cos., which is a family-owned real estate firm. e seller was Phoenix Realty De- velopment LLC, which is controlled by Michael Santoro, who has a New Haven business address as 470 James St. e property was built in 1967, renovated in 2017, sits on a 0.95-acre lot and has 26 surface parking spaces, according to CoStar. Zoners greenlight development near State Street train station New Haven's planning body has approved a zoning change that will open the door for new development on land adjacent to the State Street Station. e land at 78 Olive St., just to the east of the Metro-North railroad station, is currently home to a parking lot for the Strouse Adler complex. Applicant 78 Olive Street Partners asked the City Plan Commission to change the 2.5-acre parcel's zoning to allow for residential construction. Developer PMC Property Group has proposed a 13-story apartment complex for the property to community groups but has yet to submit a formal proposal. e Pennsylvania-based firm owns the land and redeveloped the adjacent Strouse Adler building, where rents start at $1,350 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. Bigelow Tea to buy Shelton acreage for expansion Fairfield-based Bigelow Tea announced it has entered into an agreement to buy approximately 25 acres in Shelton. e city of Shelton owns the property, known as the Mas site. e vacant property is roughly bordered by Bridgeport Avenue, Sunwood Drive, Kings Highway and Walnut Avenue. e purchase price was not immediately disclosed. e family-owned company is known for its selection of teas, which include more than 150 varieties. Bigelow said it plans to build a large warehouse in Shelton within five years to handle distribution needs that will cover the next two decades. "We are also expanding our other two facilities in Louisville, Kentucky and in Boise, Idaho," said Cindi Bigelow, third generation president and CEO. Bigelow, which launched about 75 years ago and produces roughly 2 billion tea bags annually, also opened a new warehouse distribution center in Orange in 2020. Biohaven buys Quinnipiack Club property Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Inc. has purchased a well-known Elm City landmark, the former Quinnipiack Club on Church Street, for $4.1 million, city records show. e deal covered both 221 Church St. and 280 Orange St., which includes the building and neighboring parking space. Richard Coote, president of e Wm. M. Hotchkiss Co. of New Haven, repre- sented the seller, 221 Church St. LLC, in the deal. e seller's principal is listed as Charles Noble III of Hamden, according to the Secretary of the State's office. According to a brochure, the prop- erty, built in 1931, had previously been advertised for $6.8 million. e prop- erty features some 42,000 square feet of space, 27 parking spaces, 25 guest rooms, meeting space and a kitchen. Biohaven, which is based at neigh- boring 215 Church St., is the company behind the well-known Food and Drug Administration-approved migraine treatment and prevention drug Nurtec ODT, which has been pitched by celeb- rities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Khloe Kardashian and Tori Spelling. It's not clear what the company's plans are for the property. Direct mail marketer pays $1.75M for Cheshire industrial building Direct mail marketing company e Best Postcards is moving out of leased space in Branford to an industrial build- ing its owner purchased in Cheshire. Hylie Products Inc. sold its 29,650-square-foot building on 4.8 acres at 30 Grandview Court to a limited liability company in a $1.75 million deal recorded Dec. 30. e new owner, 30 Grandview Court LLC, lists Andrew Ettinger, of Guilford, Best Western Plus Fairfield Hotel. PHOTO | COSTAR 1410 Honeyspot Road Ext., Stratford. PHOTO | COSTAR) The former Quinnipiack Club on Church Street in New Haven. PHOTO | COSTAR 30 Grandview Court, Cheshire. PHOTO | COSTAR Continued on next page

• Cover