🔒New owner plans up to $4M investment in one-time Hallmark Enfield warehouse

The new owner of greeting card maker Hallmark’s first big warehouse in Enfield plans to spend up to $4 million on expanding self-storage facilities and other upgrades to the building.

Massachusetts-based KBRC Realty sold the 363,568-square-foot warehouse on 14 acres at 53 Manning Road in May for $7.5 million. The buyer is a limited liability company controlled by Las Vegas-based real estate investment firm Patriot Holdings and investor Nikolas Chugay.

Patriot Chief Operating Officer Tim Wilkins, in a recent interview, said his company identified a market need for storage in the Enfield area and reached out to KBRC’s principal, Walter “Chip” O. LaBonte Jr., of Sherborn, Massachusetts.

LaBonte, who paid $2.1 million for the building in 2010, had already installed about 30,000 square feet of self-storage in the building. That business ran under the name I-91 Self Storage.

“We cold-called him,” Wilkins said. “It wasn’t the easiest transaction to get across the line.”

Wilkins said another potential buyer was introduced, which held up the deal for a period of time.

“Long story short, we were able to get the contract,” Wilkins said.

The building, erected in 1961, “needed a lot of love and care and definitely had a lot of deferred maintenance,” Wilkins said.

Patriot has already spent about $140,000 in cleanup and roof and fire sprinkler repairs, Wilkins said. Patriot filled about 20, 40-yard dumpsters with trash and had the parking lot repaired and re-striped, Wilkins said.

There will be upgrades to HVAC, plumbing, painting, lighting and more. Wilkins expects to spend up to $4 million on upgrades within a year.

Existing self-storage will be expanded to about 100,000 square feet, Wilkins said. After deducting out already leased space, that will leave about 140,000 square feet available for rent, Wilkins said.

“Patriot has resources,” said Art Ross, senior managing director of the industrial practice group for advisory firm Newmark, which is brokering the building for Patriot. “They’ve dug in already. They are spending real money to clean it up.”

Ross said the building had been “under-resourced for years” and was put on the market but not in marketable condition. It will continue to have the disadvantage of roughly 10-foot-six-inch high ceilings, but will attract tenants after the renovations, he said.

“It’s going to be clean, white-box space with new LED lighting,” Ross said. “The dock doors will be cleaned or replaced, same with the dock equipment.”

Pandemic, other setbacks

LaBonte, the property seller, said he had spent significant sums on property repairs and planned to expand the self-storage area as it filled, but that effort was hampered by factors including a legal dispute with the company he hired to convert a portion of the building into storage.

A lawsuit and countersuit by LaBonte against the builder are still pending in Hartford District Court. The builder recently appealed an order by the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts to pay millions to two self-storage operators in a suit containing claims of breach of contract and fraud.

LaBonte said the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on his tenants also set back his efforts in Enfield. “Patriot came at a time that was a good time to sell,” LaBonte said.

Patriot Holdings, on its website, said it manages more than 2 million square feet in 70 commercial properties worth more than $280 million.