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February 26, 2024

East Hartford retail plaza near Glastonbury line fetches $2.1M

CoStar 36 Main St., Hartford
By Michael Puffer

A New York buyer recently paid $2.1 million for a 12,494-square-foot retail plaza in East Hartford, attracted by its proximity to nearby Glastonbury.

West Hartford-based Vista Tower LLC sold the retail plaza on 1.1 acres at 36 Main St. to Bronx, New York-based Gates Place Realty LLC in a deed recorded on Feb. 20.

“It’s a very desirable location on Main Street with a big upside potential being right on the border of Glastonbury,” said Nick Milicaj, the principal of the buying company.

Milicaj said his family has focused on multifamily housing in New York for 43 years but is divesting assets to seek better conditions elsewhere. He blames New York’s increasingly aggressive regulation on landlords, which, Milicaj said, does not allow for proper rent increases and makes it very difficult to evict non-paying tenants.

Milicaj said the East Hartford property is his family’s first foray outside the multifamily rental market. Broker Marco Lala, of RM Friedland, sold a 31-unit property in New York for Milicaj, and the bulk of the proceeds were reinvested into the East Hartford property through a 1031 exchange, Milicaj said.

The five-unit East Hartford property is currently fully leased to a medical spa/hair salon, music school, fitness center, real estate management company and a job placement agency. Milicaj said he is contemplating building more retail space in the future.

The property is in a high-traffic retail area, across Main Street from a plaza anchored by Home Depot, ShopRite of East Hartford and T.J. Maxx.

Seller Vista Tower paid $600,000 for the property in 2019, according to town assessing records. Vista Tower’s principals include Paul Gondek, of South Glastonbury, as well as Rocco Gondek and Jason Kushner, both of Middletown, according to its state business filing.

Matthew Nadler, senior vice president of Horvath & Tremblay, brokered both ends of the East Hartford deal. Reached Monday, he touted the property’s proximity to Glastonbury.

“It’s just a well-located piece of real estate,” Nadler said. “You are dealing with better fundamentals of the cost to run a property, being close enough to a nicer demographic in an affluent community.”

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