Trumbull-based Woodgreen East Hartford has sold School Street Square, a 147,258-square-foot shopping center in East Hartford, to a private investor in New York for $19.2 million.
The new owner, School Street Plaza LLC, is controlled by Samuel Brach of Brooklyn.
The center is located on 14 acres of land at 265 Ellington Rd. At the time of the sale, it was 98.7 percent leased by tenants that include Big Y supermarket, Rite Aid, Fashion Bug and Blockbuster.
School Street Square was built in 1965 and expanded by 30,000 square feet in 1990. Two-thirds of the tenants have been there for at least 10 years.
Sperry Van Ness, a commercial real estate firm with its headquarters in California, brokered the deal on behalf of the seller. Joseph French, the company’s White Plains, N.Y.-based national director of retail, led the deal.
The purchase price was just below the asking price of $19.5 million. Neil Golub, an associate with Sperry Van Ness, said the property was on the market for about 60 days and received roughly 20 offers before the sale was completed.
French said the property had received offers last year for $18 million.
Slowdown In Retail Deals
While the East Hartford center’s value has held up well, the volume of retail deals in the Hartford area has been slipping during the past six months, said Golub, who concentrates on Greater Hartford.
“There have been far less transactions,” he said. “That’s become the result of the way the money has just sort of dried up. Conduit financing has disappeared, and it makes the deals harder to complete.”
While prices for primary retail centers, such as the East Hartford center, remain strong, Golub said secondary properties have taken a hit.
“The problem is with those secondary properties because the buyer pool has thinned out with a lack of financing,” he said.
Golub said the East Hartford property fetched near its asking price because it has been nearly completely leased out and it has a prime location near Interstates 84 and 91.
