Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

July 23, 2024

Wayfair seeks users for new 1.2M-sq.-ft. East Hartford warehouse it has leased

695 East Hartford Blvd. North, East Hartford.
By Michael Puffer

A 1.2-million-square-foot logistics building recently completed at Rentschler Field in East Hartford is looking for a new user, a sign that online furniture retailer Wayfair may not come to town after all.

In March 2023, National Development announced that Wayfair and Lowe's Home Improvement would occupy, respectively, 1.2 million-square-foot and 1.3 million-square-foot warehouses the Massachusetts-based real estate investor was building at Rentschler Field.

Wayfair in late 2022 inked a 12-year lease — with two, five-year extensions — with National Development for the property now known as 695 East Hartford Boulevard North.

This past November, Wayfair acknowledged it was seeking to sublet half the 1.2-million-square-foot building.

Now, the entire building is being marketed for sublease by Cushman & Wakefield.

A Wayfair spokesman declined comment Tuesday.

When reached Tuesday evening, East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin said he was unaware Wayfair’s entire 1.2-million-square-foot building was available for sublease, but he expressed concern about a possible vacancy.

“Obviously, I’m a little concerned as to why,” Martin said. “At the end of the day, we want to see people in there. We want to see jobs. We don’t want to see an empty warehouse.”

Martin expressed some hope that doubling the amount of square footage available might make the property more attractive to a large user.

East Hartford officials in late February signed off on temporary certificates of occupancy on both National Development buildings, and expect to issue final certificates of occupancy in August.

According to marketing materials, Cushman & Wakefield is advertising a “negotiable” lease rate for the Wayfair property. Users could opt to take smaller portions of the building, as little as 300,000 square feet, or the entire property.

The building offers 40-foot clear heights and dozens of docking sites on the west and east sides of the property. There are at least 450 automobile parking spaces and 500 trailer parking spaces on the 112.4-acre property. There is also a 16,519-square-foot main office and other amenities.

In January, Wayfair announced it would lay off 1,650 employees, or 13% of its workforce. At the time, Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah posted an open letter saying the company “went overboard in hiring during a strong economic period,” according to CNN. 

That followed previous rounds of layoffs.

Wayfair prospered during a pandemic-fueled surge in online consumer purchases, but has struggled to maintain that level of activity. 

In the first quarter of this year, Wayfair announced total net revenue of $2.7 billion, down $45 million or 1.6% from the year-ago period. It also reported a $248 million loss, which was an improvement from the $355 million loss the company reported a year earlier. 

Wayfair was able to narrow its loss through cost cuts. 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF