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January 16, 2020 Real Estate Roundup

Knights of Columbus buys 545 Long Wharf Drive office building

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED 545 Long Wharf Dr., New Haven
By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo

The Knights of Columbus acquired a Class A office building on the waterfront in New Haven this month, property not far from the organization’s world headquarters.

The organization bought 545 Long Wharf Dr., New Haven through an auction held in early November. The $12.8 million deal was finalized earlier this week.

A warranty deed dated Jan. 13 filed in City Hall shows the former owner, 545 Long Wharf Drive Holdings LLC sold it to 545 Real Estate Holdings LLC of Delaware. According to the Secretary of the State’s office, 545 Real Estate Holdings LLC’s principal is the Knights of Columbus of One Columbus Plaza, New Haven.

Bids started at $4.5 million. While the warranty deed doesn’t list the sale price, the city Assessor’s office indicated the property was purchased for $12.8 million.

According to Knights spokesman Joe Cullen, the building will be used to expand the organization’s office space. There will be no changes to their current tower at One Columbus Plaza, which the Knights will continue to use, he said.

While the Catholic organization is known primarily for its charitable efforts, it also sells an array of insurance products. 

Knights of Columbus headquarters at One Columbus Plaza, New Haven.

The nine-story building at 545 Long Wharf Dr. previously served as AT&T’s corporate office. Built in 1988, it has approximately 245,389 square feet of office space on 1.52 acres. 

When the property was put up for auction in the fall, RealInsight Marketplace reported it as being 40-percent leased. Flo-Tech, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and Ameriprise Financial Services are among the current tenants.

Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. of Maryland is the principal of the seller, 545 Long Wharf Drive Holdings, according to the Secretary of the State’s office. Deutsche had filed a foreclosure action against former owner New Boston Long Wharf LLC in relation to the property in July 2017 in Superior Court in New Haven. New Boston Long Wharf had secured a $31 million loan and defaulted in June 2017, court documents show. A judgment of strict foreclosure was entered in August 2018. 

New Boston Long Wharf bought the property in 2007 for $40 million, city records show. The Assessor’s office lists its current appraisal value at $31.26 million. 

Newmark Knight Frank, a New York City-based commercial real estate advisory firm, served as the investment sales broker. 

The property listing had advertised it as the “only high-quality office building in New Haven that has contiguous space of over 25,000 square feet on one floor.”

Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.

TRANSACTIONS

66 Norton St., New Haven

A Brooklyn, N.Y. holding company has acquired a 40-unit apartment building at 66 Norton St., New Haven for $1.46 million. The structure, which has been unoccupied since February 2018 after being declared structurally unfit for habitation by the city, was sold by 66 Norton Apartments LLC to another limited-liability entity, 66 Norton LLC. The transaction closed Dec. 24. The property last changed hands in 2015 in a deal valued at $2.5 million. 

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Triple AAA Northeast has purchased an 18,000-square-foot facility on 3.77 acres at 302 Woodmont Road, Milford for $3.2 million. Sold by Progressive Casualty Insurance LLC, the property will function as an automobile services center with supporting office space. Represented in the transaction by Christopher O’Hara of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, AAA Northeast purchased the facility as part of a consolidation of multiple facilities throughout southern Connecticut.

- Michael Bingham

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