Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | OCTOBER 30, 2023 7 DEAL WATCH Greater Hartford office market sees slight uptick in 3Q space availability By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com T he amount of available office space in Greater Hartford recorded a slight uptick during the third quarter, despite an increase in leasing activity, according to a new report by CBRE. The Greater Hartford market, including Hartford and 17 surrounding municipalities, posted a 29.8% office availability rate, up from 29.6% in the second quarter, and essentially flat from 29.9% recorded in the first quarter, according to CBRE. During the third quarter, tenants signed 217,000 square feet of leases in Greater Hartford. However, that was offset by an overall 39,000-square- foot increase in newly vacated space. During the first three quarters of 2023, Greater Hartford office tenants have shed a net 651,000 square feet of space. Greater Hartford's vacancy rate is 28.2%, flat from the second quarter, CBRE data shows. Downtown Hartford has a 24.9% availability rate, but its largest Class A buildings have an availability rate of 32.7%. The market north of Hartford, including Windsor and Bloomfield, has by far the highest office vacan- cies, with a 69.2% availability rate. 245 Alvord Park Road, Torrington. PHOTO | COSTAR 3Q GREATER HARTFORD LEASES • Stanley Black & Decker: 60,000-sq.-ft. lease renewal, 700 Stanley Drive, New Britain • Town of Bloomfield: 26,012-sq.-ft. new lease, 1300 Hall Blvd., Bloomfield • Bank of America: 25,391-sq.-ft. lease renewal, 29 South Main St., West Hartford • Selective Insurance Group: 24,912-sq.-ft. new lease, 90 State House Square, Hartford • Gateway Financial: 20,518-sq.-ft. new lease, 455 Winding Brook Drive, Glastonbury Source: CBRE Joint venture buys Torrington medical office buildings as part of $300M Northeast investment push By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com A joint initiative by New York- and Boston-based investment firms recently paid $8.15 million for two Torrington medical office buildings as part of a drive to invest in Northeast outpatient healthcare facilities. Sendero Capital and investment manager Angelo Gordon purchased the two buildings at 245 Alvord Park Road. The 5.4-acre property hosts a 22,261-square-foot medical office completed in 2002, and a 15,470-square-foot medical office completed in 1997. JLL Capital Markets brokered the deal. JLL, in June, said it had arranged a joint venture between Sendero and Angelo Gordon to invest up to $300 million in outpatient healthcare real estate over the next two years. The venture focuses on outpatient medical offices and surgery centers throughout the Northeast. JLL said the Northeast region has high barriers to entry, strong growth and one of the largest concentrations of healthcare businesses in the nation. The joint venture made its first acquisition in June — an $8.9 million purchase of a 54,000-square-foot medical office building in Hamden that was 88% occupied by Hartford Health- Care, Yale New Haven Health and a variety of smaller medical practices. The Torrington purchase is the fourth for the partners, according to JLL. The Torrington property was sold by IJAN 2 CT REALTY LLC, whose principals are Irwin Stockel, of Bridge- port, and Jon R. Stockel, of Armonk, New York. They paid $6.5 million for the property in 2017. The buildings are fully leased to Litchfield Hills Orthopedic Associates, as well as endoscopy and physical therapy tenants. Hartford HealthCare recently acquired a majority stake in the Litchfield Hills Surgery Center, and will invest $2.75 million in reno- vations, equipment and technology, according to JLL. Sendero Capital is a privately held real estate investment, development and advisory firm based in Boston. Angelo Gordon is a New York- based alternative investment firm that says it has $74 billion in assets under management. Hartford pays $2.1M for historic Parkville industrial building; redevelopment eyed By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com T he city of Hartford has paid $2.1 million for a century-old, roughly 80,000-square-foot manufacturing building seen as integral to economic revitaliza- tion efforts in the working-class Parkville neighborhood. Champlin Packrite, a logistics company serving aerospace, manu- facturing and industrial clients, sold the brick manufacturing building at 81 Bartholomew Ave., to the city in a deed dated Sept. 27. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said the prominent and historic property is "a really important piece for the bigger Parkville puzzle." "As we work to achieve the broader vision of a vibrant live-work-play neighborhood in the Parkville Arts & Innovation District, we wanted to make sure that 81 Bartholomew is redeveloped in a way that contributes to that vision," Bronin said. The Champlin Packrite property was included in the city's March 2022 application for a $48.4 million grant from Gov. Ned Lamont's Innovation Corridor grant program. The $100 million grant program was meant to provide matching funds to help up to three cities undertake transforma- tional revitalization projects. Awards were initially expected to be announced in spring 2022, but no commitments have yet been made. According to the city's 2022 appli- cation, 81 Bartholomew was to be transformed into a hub — called "The Factory" — for companies providing advanced manufacturing technology. It's not clear if that is how the 81 Bartholomew Ave., Hartford. PHOTO | COSTAR property will end up being used, Bronin said. The city has agreed to lease the property back to Champlin Packrite for a year while it explores poten- tial redevelopment opportunities, Bronin said. "We've had a number of conver- sations about potential uses — from manufacturing to arts to entertain- ment — and I expect that over the next year the city will continue to explore a variety of possibilities there," Bronin said. "In the meantime, the property will continue to be used by the original owner during a period of transition."

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