By James Lomuscio
UPDATE and CORRECT (corrects Main Street sale, adds Hampe background) A just completed Westport commercial office building sale is sure to send shudders down the spines of nervous Westport’s property owners. 
The office building at 450 Post Road East changed hands last week. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The building at 450 Post Road East purchased in 2007 for just under $12 million—and assessed at $10.9 million by the town in 2010—has sold for $5.4 million, according to the Town Clerk’s office.
Abbey Road Advisors LLC located at 33 Riverside Ave. sold the building, which had been vacant, to Baywater Properties LLC in Darien. It was a private sale that did not involve commercial real estate brokers.
The conveyance tax to the state was $54,154 and to the town, $13,538.50, according to the deed received Friday and stamped by Patricia Strauss, town clerk.
The deed identifies the seller at W. Mark Keeney, president of Abbey 450 Post Road LLC. Abbey Road owns commercial real estate in Fairfield and Norwalk, as well as Westport.
Ted Hampe, a veteran commercial real estate broker who works at John D. Hastings in Westport, noted that while Abbey Road’s selling price was less than half of what it paid four years ago, the low price should not cause alarm but be viewed in the perspective of the market in 2007.
“That’s because in 2007 and 2008, the market went crazy,” Hampe said. “In 2007, buildings were at an all time high.” He cited the sale that year of 21 Main St. for a record $2,372 per square foot.
He added that the 450 Post Road East building had been empty for a long time.
Baywater, however, already has a substantial tenant lined up—Wells Fargo.
“I understand that Wells Fargo will go in there, and the new buyer will fit it to (Wells Fargo’s) specifications,” said Hampe. “Maybe the seller didn’t want to pay that much money.”
“Fitting” a commercial building to a tenant’s specifications can cost between $40 to $50 per square foot, and Wells Fargo is poised to take up 75 percent, or 27,000 square feet of the 36,000-square-foot building, said Hampe.
“That’s about $1.35 million,” he said. “Maybe they didn’t want to pour in more money.”
In February 2007 Abbey Road purchased the property from Matan Companies of Frederick, Md. HK Group—which Hampe founded in 1988 as H T Hampe Associates before its name change in 2001 and where he was chairman until the end of 2008—facilitated the sale. (See WestportNow Feb. 5, 2007)
At the time the office building housed two tenants, Integrated Corporate Relations and New England Life Insurance. The building was constructed in 1981 and has undergone two renovations.
As reported on WN last year The old town hall including drive-up which was purchased for 3,200,000 in august of 1999 sold last March for 2,325,000
James, I wish you would have asked the sellers what went through their minds when they paid $12M for the bldg and why they chose to exit 4 years later at 45 cents on the dollar. Another thing to make clear that the building was bought with “Other People’s Money”—both individual and institutional investors, according to the firm’s website. What do those investors think of this transaction?