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One of Connecticut’s busiest multifamily developers recently paid $16 million for a downtown Stamford big-box retail property, after advancing plans to knock it down and build a 280-unit apartment building.
The 123,000-square-foot building, at 74 Broad St., was formerly home to a Burlington outlet. A limited liability company headed by Stamford-based developer Randy Salvatore, of RMS Cos., purchased the 1.76-acre property in a deed recorded by the city on Jan. 24.
The city had already approved Salvatore’s plans to tear down the 1965-vintage retail building to make way for a seven-story, 280-unit apartment building with 5,722 square feet of retail space and associated amenities. The bottom two floors will be a parking garage.
Salvatore said he was willing to pay a premium for the building because of its location right in the heart of booming downtown Stamford.
“To me, it’s the best location in Stamford, when you talk in terms about being on the corner of Main and Main, it just doesn’t get any better than this location,” Salvatore said. “It’s been a building that’s been an eyesore to the area for a long time, and underused, so now we have a chance to build something beautiful that will bring life to that corridor. So, it’s really something special.”
Salvatore said he has not finished bidding out the project, so he does not have a cost estimate yet. Asbestos abatement has begun, and Salvatore hopes to begin demolition within two weeks. If all goes well, construction could begin within three months and conclude 20 months later, he said.
The site is a little more than one block away from a 228-unit apartment building – “The Asher” – which Salvatore completed last spring under a roughly $50 million budget.
That building is almost completely leased up, Salvatore said.
The building at 74 Broad St. will be packed with amenities, including an “extensive” fitness center, coworking spaces, community gathering areas, a rooftop pool and mini-golf course and more, Salvatore said.
The property was sold by four limited liability companies whose principals include Loomis J. Grossman Jr., of New York; Sharon Herzog, of Greenwich; Purchase, New York-based LSR Stamford Holdings LP; as well as Randi Barrett and Roberta Lehrman, of Boca Raton, Florida.
Lauren S. Pinkus signed the deed transferring the property on behalf of LSR Stamford Holdings LP.
The transaction was brokered by Gene Rubino, founder of Plaza Realty & Management Corp. It came up for sale as Burlington planned a move into a smaller space at the close of 2024, he said.
There had been immediate interest from multiple buyers. This field of competitors was whittled down to three finalists, who were interviewed by the sellers, Rubino said. All were interested in conversion to multifamily use, he confirmed.
“To find 1 ¾ acres available in downtown Stamford is very unique,” Rubino said. “It is probably the best piece of property in downtown Stamford right now.”
The retail building at 74 Broad St. was originally built for a Caldor department store, Rubino said. It had become obsolete for today’s retail demands and would have required significant repairs to maintain its retail use, he noted.
“Those days are gone, and you are not going to be able to do anything with it, so the owners hired me to sell it,” Rubino said. “It’s a fantastic site and housing is really what everybody is doing.”
This is at least the third major downtown Stamford real estate purchase by developers in 2024.
A limited liability company controlled by developer and investor Abraham Gottesman paid $6.5 million on Jan. 15 for the 189,896-square-foot, seven-story Soundview Plaza office building at 1266 East Main St. Gottesman’s plans for the property are unclear, although he has been involved in a major office-to-apartments conversion in Bridgeport.
In December, a 90,000-square foot office building at 1241 East Main St. that had recently hosted entertainment giant WWE sold for $3.75 million to a developer active in multifamily and industrial projects in Connecticut and the greater Boston area.
RMS Cos. is one of the most prolific multifamily development firms in Connecticut, with large-scale developments ongoing in Norwalk and Hartford.
As of November, RMS listed 34 properties in its portfolio, including five boutique hotels in Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, New Haven and Hartford; as well as an upscale college dormitory in Stamford.
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