Snowball Developments recently paid $17.45 million for four warehouse properties in Windsor, East Hartford and New Haven, continuing a four-year buying streak of industrial properties ready for reinvestment.
The latest purchases bring the Manhattan, New York-based industrial real estate investor’s Connecticut portfolio up to 13 properties, with four more in New Jersey, for a combined total of about 2 million square feet.
“We’ve been busy,” said Brian Ker, the company’s president.
In deeds recorded in March, Snowball acquired three properties from affiliates of New Canaan-based real estate investor Luzern Associates. These include:
A 25,202-square-foot, 2001-vintage industrial building on 2.13 acres at 90 John W. Murphy Drive in New Haven. The metal-sided building has 18-foot wall heights.
A 40,328-square-foot, 1989-vintage industrial building on 3.1 acres at 104 John W. Murphy Drive in New Haven. This metal-sided building also has 18-foot wall heights.
A roughly 60,000-square-foot, 2002-vintage warehouse on 8.5 acres at 770-790 Marshall Phelps Road in Windsor.
770-790 Marshall Phelps Road, Windsor. Photo | CoStar.
Municipal records show Luzern had acquired these properties for $12.8 million in 2020 and 2022.
Snowball borrowed $9.55 million from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Starwood Mortgage Capital LLC, secured with a mortgage on the properties it acquired from Luzern.
Ker told the Hartford Business Journal his company also, in March, paid $3.25 million for a warehouse at 10 Eastern Park Road in East Hartford.
The 40,050-square-foot, concrete-and-cinderblock warehouse was completed in 1967 and sits on 2.18 acres. It is also adjacent to an 87,525-square-foot warehouse Snowball acquired for $5.95 million a little more than a year ago.
This latest acquisition creates a “campus-style” opportunity anchored by a shared tenant – wholesale tire vendor Tireco, Ker said.
“And so now we get to homogenize potentially their lease and their lease term and really kind of like think of this as a campus,” he said.
10 Eastern Park Road, East Hartford. Photo | CoStar.
The building at 10 Eastern Park Road is fully leased to Tireco, which uses it as a regional office and distribution facility. It also leases space in the building next door. Snowball has also filled 12-14 Eastern Park Road with a recent 36,000-square-foot lease to third-party logistics company OTW Shipping.
Art Ross and Eric Blumenthal of Newmark represented Snowball development in the OTW lease. Austin Fahy of Transwestern represented the tenant.
Now, Snowball will focus on exterior improvements to the buildings and properties in East Hartford, including resurfacing parking lots, repainting the buildings and more.
“So that these buildings work great going forward and have a big upgrade over what they were historically,” Ker said.
Ker said the building at 770-790 Marshall Phelps Road is fully leased and sits on a large property offering future flexibility. Tenants include Walgreens and security firm Michael Stapleton Associates.
Snowball has targeted properties with excess land or underutilized areas that can be improved or repositioned over time, in some cases with secure outdoor storage.
“We always look to figure out a way to, to utilize underutilized space,” Ker said.
In Windsor, that could include outdoor storage, building expansion and rooftop solar installations, he said. Snowball has completed multiple rooftop solar leases across its portfolio and is exploring similar opportunities at newly acquired sites.
Ker said there’s a “land rush” by solar developers seeking space to install before federal incentives disappear.
Any changes would be pursued in coordination with local officials, Ker stressed.
The property at 104 John Murphy Drive in New Haven is occupied by pump supplier Industrial Flow Systems, Ker said.
Ker said his company is prepared to invest in expansion of the building if needed to accommodate Industrial Flow System’s growth.
“Our view is we want to provide the solution to tenant needs,” Ker said. “If they want to grow and they want to stay in that location, then we’re going to facilitate them growing.”
Ker said strong leasing demand and tight vacancy — particularly for larger industrial space — continue to support Snowball’s outlook.
“It’s giving us a tremendous amount of optimism to acquire properties across central Connecticut,” he said.
Ker said his company is prepared to invest in expansion of the building if needed to accommodate Industrial Flow System’s growth.
“Our view is we want to provide the solution to tenant needs,” Ker said. “If they want to grow and they want to stay in that location, then we’re going to facilitate them growing.”
Ker said strong leasing demand and tight vacancy — particularly for larger industrial space — continue to support Snowball’s outlook.
“It’s giving us a tremendous amount of optimism to acquire properties across central Connecticut,” he said.
