Chris Ostop and Shawn McMahon are longtime commercial real estate brokers at JLL. They both hold managing director titles, with Ostop focused on office, medical and lab space, and McMahon specializing in industrial and warehouse space.
McMahon said his team over the past year has completed industrial transactions totaling over 2.9 million square feet of space with a lease/sales value in excess of $125 million.
JLL, for example, brokered the sale of a 268,000-square-foot, Class A distribution center in Winsor Locks, at 140 Old County Circle, for $37.25 million. The firm also brokered the lease of a new, 185,000-square-foot distribution center in Windsor, at 205 Baker Hollow Road, for window-and-door manufacturer Marvin.
“One emerging trend we’re seeing in industrial real estate is the adaptive reuse of defunct retail spaces for industrial purposes,” McMahon said. “As e-commerce continues to reshape the retail landscape, we’re observing innovative conversions of former big-box stores and shopping malls into last-mile distribution centers, micro-fulfillment hubs, and even small-scale manufacturing facilities. This trend is particularly interesting in the Greater Hartford area, where we have several aging retail properties ripe for redevelopment.”
Ostop has been working with the receivers and special servicers that have been trying to stabilize and lease two major office properties — Constitution Plaza and City Place I — in downtown Hartford.
Ostop said many of the region’s higher-class office buildings that have faced refinancing issues will finalize their debt restructures over the next 12 months.
That will lead to “a lower cost basis in those assets along with new ownership.”
“The buildings that complete this process will have a clear line of sight to future leasing and stabilization,” Ostop said. “The level of tenant demand is still a major issue, and a few of the current office buildings will be converted to multifamily.”
He’s also been representing office users that have found new homes in the Greater Hartford suburban market, which has been rebounding from the pandemic as companies look to improve their in-office experience for their employees, Ostop said.