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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | July 18, 2022 7 DEAL WATCH What's Sold Here's a list of recently sold commercial properties. Properties are listed in order of sales date. Property address City Sale price Property type Building sq. ft. Year built 3041 Main St Glastonbury $1,000,000 Retail 1,900 1978 19 Pine St Plainville $385,000 Retail 6,360 1975 209 Smalley St New Britain $590,000 Specialty 10,303 1967 55 John E Horton Blvd Hebron $30,000,000 Elderly Group Care Home 161 Washington St Hartford $6,087,000 Retail 16,986 1996 1 Bari Ln Unionville $1,600,000 Multi-Family 44,448 1970 24 Whiting St Plainville $2,025,000 Retail 9,884 321 W Service Rd Hartford $1,484,120 Industrial 7,600 1955 214 Allen St New Britain $700,000 Industrial 16,780 1964 513 East St New Britain $335,000 Multi-Family 6,683 1900 252 Merrow Rd Tolland $262,000 Retail 2,048 1978 1170 Main St Newington $3,125,000 Industrial 134,985 1975 110 Reed Ave West Hartford $957,600 Industrial 14,800 1967 554 New Park Ave West Hartford $660,000 Office 8,324 1987 120 West St Simsbury $500,000 Retail 4,400 1948 475 Talcottville Rd Vernon Rockville $1,606,800 Retail 6,688 1981 123-130 Green St New Britain $1,585,000 Multi-Family 12,600 1967 1517 Winsted Rd Torrington $807,818 Industrial 14,535 2005 165 Middle Tpke W Manchester $630,000 Office 5,052 1999 130 Utopia Rd Manchester $205,000 Flex 2,700 1990 230 Deming Rd Berlin $460,000 Industrial 8,144 1965 Source: Costar GREATER HARTFORD OFFICE VACANCY RATES Hartford North (Bloomfield, East Granby, East Windsor, Enfield, Windsor and Windsor Locks) 59 buildings, 4 million sq. ft., vacancy 40.5% Hartford Central Business District 39 buildings, 7.9 million sq. ft., vacancy 17.9% Hartford East (East Hartford, Glastonbury and Hartford) 65 buildings, 3.2 million sq. ft., vacancy 15.9% Hartford South (New Britain, Newington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield) 88 buildings, 3.2 million sq. ft., vacancy 20.8% Hartford West (Avon, Farmington, Simsbury, Southington and West Hartford) 111 buildings, 5.2 million sq. ft., vacancy 12.3% Source: CBRE Quarter 1 report on office activity of cubicles, no longer fit the elbow-room demanded by today's employees, Goman said. Goman recalled one "testing and research" client who asked for a roughly 50-person office design, with 80% of employees in cubicles and 20% in offices. The design was approved in early 2020, as the COVID-pandemic emerged. As final drawings were being completed months later, the client came back and asked to reverse the ratios, wanting a building with 80% of staff in individual offices, Goman said. "With the labor markets tightening up, companies are looking to keep employees," Goman said. Goman said some expect employees to eventually want to return to offices full time, but he believes hybrid and remote working situations are "here to stay." "I think it will be two days in and three days out," Goman said. Rebecca Nolan, vice president of global business development with the MetroHartford Alliance, said large corporations have been shrinking office footprints for years, having an outsize impact on vacancy rates. That holds especially true for the towns north of Hartford that hosted large complexes, she noted. "I just don't see any one occupier taking up a 450,000-square-foot building anymore," Nolan said. "We have these bigger users and when they change their models, that's going to significantly impact the vacancy rates." Greenberg said he owns 15 to 20 office buildings across the state, several of which are on the market. He considers it the worst asset class to hold now and predicts it will take up to a decade before the market stabilizes due to demolition and conversions of existing buildings. "One problem when you are looking to sell an asset class that is out of favor [is that] everybody is looking at the same door at the same time," Greenberg said. "I have some fantastic properties. Most of my developments are tremendous but the plain old office cookie-cutter market is not where I want to be." The Hartford announced in June it was vacating its 457,396-square-foot Windsor office property at 1 Griffin Road North. It will try to fill the empty space, or sell the building. PHOTO | COSTAR Rebecca Nolan