After working for a multifamily developer in the nation’s capital, David Goldblum returned to his native Connecticut in 1996 to take the reins of his family’s real estate company. New Haven-based Hurley Group is tapping into the city’s biotech boom with its conversion of 55 Church St., an 8-story office building, into the 114,000-square-foot Elm City Bioscience Center. Hurley Group has secured three leases with life science companies and completed buildouts for the initial tenants. Hurley Group owns more than 1 million square feet of commercial real estate in Connecticut, including office, retail and flex industrial properties.
Q: What was the impetus for you to join the family business?
A: My father was in the demolition business and when he retired, he and his brothers split up the company’s assets. He took some real estate and at the time, I was working in Washington, D.C. for a finance and development company. We did community-level redevelopments that involved private and public financing. I had a young family and my job in D.C. was sort of a national job, so I was traveling quite a bit. It didn’t really work with a young family, and I wanted to home much more than I was, so I made that switch. And my wife and I wanted to be closer to family.
Q: How did the portfolio change and expand after you took over?
A: My father had some properties in Stamford and one in Oxford and one in Wallingford. I worked on the expansion and redevelopment of some of those, and then I began acquiring properties in other parts of the state. We have a good concentration here in New Haven.
Q: What is your current investment strategy?
A: We really look for opportunities to create multiple-tenant properties. That’s what I like the best, and generally we are buying existing product at a good price. And truthfully, I haven’t bought a lot recently. I developed a lot of the stuff we have, but with the pricing lately, we haven’t been able to find things. Hopefully [rising interest rates] will change the equation in the other direction, that people who have used leverage to buy things at these high prices may find themselves in a position where they want to sell as they have to refinance at higher rates.
Q: How does the biotech lease negotiation differ from a traditional office lease deal?
A: The conventional leases are much faster, because generally speaking they are with companies that are already leasing space so it’s more of a routine process for them. With life science, it might be a first space for them other than an incubator. It’s usually a bit of a different process. For many of our tenants, whether it’s office tenants or flex tenants, they are renting spaces where the design and spaces need not be as specific to their operation. So both the design and sometimes the lease negotiations are somewhat longer.
Q: What sets The Hurley Group apart as a commercial real estate owner?
A: Because we manage everything we own, I think what we have is an advantage for our tenants to have very responsive ownership and management: both for the biotech and our residential and office and flex industrial tenants. You are dealing with local ownership and management that has been in business for a very long time. And because we are pretty much self-funded, we have a lot more flexibility in fashioning deals that fit with the tenant. I don’t have to operate by strict investment criteria. We’re long-term owners, so we can take the long view in a way that a lot of people who are accountable to investors that have predetermined time horizons can’t. That’s why I believe with our labs, we’re doing deals on terms a lot of the other people won’t do.
Goldblum’s Five Favorite New Haven Area Charities:
- The National Diaper Bank Network
- The Diaper Bank of Connecticut
- The Basic Needs Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
- Christian Community Action Agency
- Columbus House
