Tom Hall is one step closer to retiring.
The 81-year-old owner of Connecticut Home Interiors at 830 Farmington Ave. in West Hartford announced in July that he plans to sell the building his home furnishing store has occupied for 41 years and eventually retire.
He took a step in that direction Wednesday, when a 10,000-square-foot, one-story warehouse he owned at 453 New Park Ave. in West Hartford was sold at auction for just over $1 million.
Michael Guidicelli, an agent with Regions Commercial Real Estate Advisors, said the auction for the building and 0.36 acres was conducted via Ten-X, a website that facilitates commercial real estate sales. According to Guidicelli, there were eight registered bidders and more than 35 offers were received before the winning bid of $1,007,000 was selected.
The winning bidder was Ben Weinfeld, a real estate investor and principal in Countrywide Stone & Marble in New York.
As a condition of the winning bid, Weinfield is required to lease the New Park Avenue building back to Hall for one year for $100,000. Guidicelli said that will allow Hall time to liquidate his inventory, as well as allow time for Weinfeld to decide and get approvals for whatever he decides to do with the property.
Hall has listed his 830 Farmington Ave. store for sale for $2.7 million, also with the stipulation that the new owner must agree to lease the building back to Connecticut Home Interiors for one year at $400,000.
That building is one story but also has a loft/mezzanine level and basement storage. Combined, the space is about 54,000 square feet. The sale would include 0.68 acres of land.
Guidicelli said the store also has recently been listed for sale at auction on Ten-X, with a live bidding date of Nov. 18.
He said that while there has been a “tremendous amount of interest” in that property, selling it at auction “expedites the process and creates a level playing field for both the buyer and the seller.”
