JV Buys Long Wharf Drive Portfolio

NEW HAVEN, CT-A package of properties along Long Wharf Drive here has been sold to a partnership of Newmark Holdings of New York City, headed by Newmark Knight Frank chairman Jeffrey Gural, and Rreef Real Estate Opportunities Fund II. No purchase price was disclosed.

The package that changed hands includes One Long Wharf Dr., a 285,995-sf office building, and Three Long Wharf Dr., a property currently net leased to a hotel partnership currently operating the 112-unit New Haven Premier Suites Hotel.

Also included in the purchase are an adjacent 1,000-space parking lot, a small office building and a one-acre parking lot parcel.

One Long Wharf Dr. is currently 85% leased. The building has a tenant roster that includes government agencies, nonprofits and educational institutions.

Newmark Knight Frank of New York City will handle the management of One Long Wharf Dr. and will partner with locally based brokerage firm OR&L Commercial on the leasing of the property. The new ownership plans to undertake a multimillion-dollar upgrade of the seven-story building, constructed in 1920. The property was originally developed for industrial use, but was converted to an office building in 1988.

Commenting on the deal, Newmark Knight Frank managing director Brian Steinwurtzel states, “The partnership plans to renovate and upgrade the building’s entranceway, parking lot, lobby, elevators and common areas. The building has great potential based on its accessibility to the highways, parking facility, and the improving economics of New Haven.”