Sep. 4–What do Screaming Yellow Zonkers, pricey bedroom sets and a few hedge funds have in common?
A new landlord.
The building that houses the Huffman Koos Furniture store, novelty popcorn maker Lincoln Snacks Co. and several office tenants off High Ridge Road near the Merritt Parkway last week became a property of GHP Office Realty.
The White Plains, N.Y. firm last week bought the three-story, 66,000-square-foot building for $8.3 million, or about $125.776 a square foot.
The furniture store, offices of Country Living Associates and Coldwell Banker residential real estate, several small money management firms and the headquarters of Lincoln Snacks will remain in the 32-year-old building, said Andrew Greenspan, managing principal of privately held GHP Office Realty.
“We jumped at the opportunity to buy a premier asset at a Class A location,” Greenspan said.
“We believe in the Stamford and Connecticut markets and we are looking to do more business here.”
GHP Office Realty also owns office buildings at 1290 E. Main St. in Stamford and 1221 Post Road East in Westport, as well as office buildings in New York and New Jersey.
The company did not pay too much for the Huffman Koos building at 30 Buxton Farm Road, said Michael Gordon, director of business development for the Stamford office of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut Inc., a commercial real estate firm.
“The value per square foot seems to be in line with the current market,” Gordon said. “The building is fully occupied, has long-term leases and quality tenants.”
Matthew CQKeefe, president of Westport-based HK Group commercial real estate, represented the buyer as well as the seller, Buxton Farms LLC.
David Rubin, former manager of the building, said the seller divested its Stamford asset to focus on its commercial properties in New Haven and Hartford counties. Rubin also had been a manager at the former Wayside Furniture, which the Huffman Koos chain acquired several years ago.
Huffman Koos, which dropped the Wayside Furniture name earlier this year, occupies the top two floors of the building.
Among the office tenants on the bottom floor, Lincoln Snacks expects to add some space to the 3,000 square feet it currently leases, said Hendrik J. “Henk” CQHartong III, president and chief executive officer of the privately held company. Lincoln Snacks employs 10 people in Stamford and has been in the city since 1991.
“We are very happy with the management of the current office space and look forward to working the new owner in the same manner,” Hartong said.
Lincoln Snacks makes the Poppycock, Fiddle Faddle, Just the Nuts and Screaming Yellow Zonkers brands of caramelized popcorn and Flipz pretzel and graham cracker snacks. Its manufacturing plant is in Lincoln, Neb.
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