23 Woodland Road, Madison
Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, which is known as one of Connecticut’s largest and most prestigious law firms, has leased 1,500 square feet for a suburban office that will serve its clients in Connecticut’s Shoreline area.
The offices are located at 23 Woodland Road in Madison.
Kevin Geenty of Branford-based The Geenty Group, Realtors, was the sole agent in the transaction. The Geenty Group specializes in a variety of business needs, including investment, industrial, warehouse, office and retail brokerage. Its services include market data from a number of communities, 1031 exchanges and investment sales, corporate moves, environmental issues, office sales, industrial sales, tenant representation, property management and home sales.
Athena Completes Deals
Danbury-based Athena Real Estate, a specialty collateral real estate investment and services firm, has completed a pair of Florida acquisitions: a 55,000-square-foot self-storage facility and a 57-site senior manufactured housing community, both of which are located in Pensacola. The self-storage acquisition was recently completed with a co-investment partner, NDC Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm. Financial information on the two acquisitions was not disclosed.
The 382-unit self-storage facility opened in March 2005 and was approximately 79 percent leased at the time of acquisition. The property is located in Cantonment, a submarket of Pensacola, which is an area experiencing tremendous growth, according to Athena Real Estate Chief Executive Officer Richard O’Brien.
“The facility is still in lease-up and recent reports indicate that there will be approximately 8,000 housing units added over the next several years in close proximity to the property purchased,” O’Brien said.
The 57-site senior manufactured housing community is located on Highway 95A in the heart of Pensacola’s growth. As part of Athena Real Estate’s investment strategy, the company plans to cluster properties in the same markets where possible.
Both of the properties were acquired from local owner-operators. The Pensacola area was ranked highly by both Forbes and Inc. magazines as one of the “Best Places to Do Business in 2005.”
“Athena Real Estate wants to acquire a significant number of properties in Florida,” O’Brien said. “We see strong returns over the long term in the niche properties we are buying and Florida is a targeted state for us. We expect Florida’s economy to grow faster than the U.S. economy due to strong migration, the aging population and the baby boomer effect.”
Athena Real Estate was founded in 2004 by O’Brien, formerly an executive with a mid-cap public hotel REIT (real estate investment trust) and a managing director of the commercial real estate division of a large finance company. The operating philosophy of Athena Real Estate is to obtain premium returns by acquiring niche property types in which focused management can provide a competitive advantage. Athena Real Estate is seeking manufactured-housing communities, recreational-vehicle parks and self-storage facilities nationwide with an emphasis on the East Coast.
Perugina Earns Certification
Roxanne Perugina of Hartford-based Diversified Project Management, one of New England’s premier owner-representative firms providing preconstruction, project management, construction administration, FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) coordination and move-planning services, has received her Professional Certification in Facilities Management from The Construction Institute.
The professional certification is designed for practicing facility management professionals to ensure they have the necessary knowledge to develop and execute the strategic and operational mission of facilities management.
“I am very excited to see the commitment of Roxanne and our staff to further develop their knowledge and education,” said Chuck Pinckney, president of Diversified Project Management. “Not only will this certification strengthen Roxanne’s skill set and make her a more valuable asset to Diversified, but to our clients as well.”
The Construction Institute, a division of the University of Hartford, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of diverse professionals working to improve the construction industry in Connecticut by sharing experiences and knowledge, advancing relationships, and developing business leaders.
