Jeff Dunne
Vice Chairman, CBRE
Industry experience: 38 years
Jeff Dunne has seen the growth and decline of the Fairfield County office market as a magnet for large corporations, and the transformation of areas such as downtown Stamford with high-rise apartment development amid the revival of urban living.
A 33-year broker for CBRE based in its Stamford office, Dunne has closed over $30 billion in investment sales during his career. A vice chairman at the company, Dunne has represented owners of high-profile office and apartment buildings this year in selling off such properties as the former GE Capital offices and current Vineyard Vines headquarters in Stamford.
Q: With this month’s news that the 853,000-square-foot Stamford Town Center mall is up for sale, what’s the likely future for that property?
A: In the long term there will be changes in that mall, but it still seems to be operating fine. We have to watch and see what the impact is from the SoNo Collection in Norwalk, where Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s are going. That just opened and we’ll see how that plays out. It’s a different tenant and different market.
Whoever buys that mall is likely to do one of two things. If you walk through it today, it’s largely what it was when it was built. It’s nice, but it’s a little bit tired. There will be significant investment, but what will the end uses be? Will you have entirely retail? Will you find a way to incorporate some residential?
It’s complicated. It’s not that simple to redo malls. It’s a multi-level mall, so that’s probably a good thing. They’ve certainly lost some occupancy to [SoNo Collection], so that will be impacted.
Q: You recently brokered the sale of 201 High Ridge Road in Stamford to National Development for a senior living conversion. Is this office-to-residential strategy likely to continue in Fairfield County?
A: A lot of the office parks in the region that are very old and antiquated are being redeveloped. This is another example. This building at one time was the Waldenbooks headquarters. It eventually was bought by GE and acted as their building for Treasury transactions, and it’s quite an old building. The reutilization of this is a perfect use. And we could go around the region and find lots of examples of buildings being taken down. Buildings depreciate for a reason, and this is going to happen in Fairfield County.
Q: The 186-unit Post & Main apartments in Old Saybrook recently sold for $42.5 million in another one of your recent deals. Does the price reflect the proximity to transit?
A: It was a fair price on both sides. It’s just a super A-plus location, and transit-oriented properties like that have more intense buyer interest, and frankly have more renter interest, because they can walk out their door and get on a train to New Haven or New York. There’s quite a bit of retail around that site. It’s near the Post Road. It’s the kind of property I’d want to own myself because of all the transit orientation, and it’s a good town.
Q: What are some of your other notable current listings?
A: In Norwalk, we’re selling 654 units at Waypointe. In Trumbull, we’re selling 374 units in The Royce, a former AvalonBay-built property. We closed on the Grand Reserve in Orange [this month], 160 units in an Avalon Bay-built property.
Q: What’s your outlook for the Stamford multifamily market over the next 12 months?
A: I like what I’m seeing. The apartments are highly leased. From a residential point of view and Millennials, there are more young people coming to town and that bodes well for availability of labor, and for the retail, bar and restaurant business. Berkshire Communities’ Vela on the Park [a 209-unit complex that opened in 2018] is 95 percent leased. Downtown foot traffic has been good. If we had as much office demand as we did apartments, it would be better, but we have some good companies that are growing: Charter Communications, and Indeed. Henkel moved into the downtown. There’s a bunch of good stories. We need to see more of them, because the level of demand for office, which is improving, is not matching up with the demand for new apartments.
Q: What’s holding Fairfield County back from gaining momentum on the economic development and commercial space demand?
A: The thing Fairfield County needs is a faster, better train system. The system has only gotten worse if you’re a commuter to New York. And we need to improve the roads and getting around. That may be a problem for every major metro area. The trains are Third World and we need the senators and congressmen in this state to work with the other senators and congressmen and the president to get funding.
Q: Movement from one brokerage to another is common in commercial real estate. What’s the reason you’ve been committed to CBRE for 35 years?
A: I initially went to work for Procter & Gamble and I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I applied for jobs at Cushman & Wakefield and Coldwell Banker, as we were known at the time. CB had just come here to the East Coast a couple of years earlier, and they had a clean slate. I took a risk. It’s a great company that’s gotten better. The platform has become better over the years. I think it’s the best in the business. I’ve been asked to move a number of times. I’m a loyal person. I’ve had the same wife for the same period of time. It’s a great company and they’ve been air to me and it’s been a great relationship. We have less movement out of CBRE. People still try to get our good people. Money makes people move. It isn’t anything more than that. But money doesn’t buy everything.
Dunne’s Five Favorite Golf Courses:
- Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
- Fisher’s Island Club
- Oakmont Golf Club
- Winged Foot Golf Club
- National Golf Links
