By Dave Matlow
In a sign that Westport retail is still attractive, a new retail complex on Post Road East is fully leased. And its owner says there was much tenant interest with flexibility the key to closing the deals.
The retail complex at 1320 Post Road East is fully leased. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The building is at 1320 Post Road East, across from a Lexus dealership.
According to real estate developer Rob Haroun, the new tenants include a Kohler distributor home fixtures showroom, a hair services salon, and Surface, a stone and countertop showroom. All will open in the fall.
“it was challenging to find tenants even though we had 30 to 40 interested ones who were good, solid prospects,” said Haroun, whose properties include the Old Town Hall at 90 Post Road East.
“Many restaurants were interested. The commonality was that the candidates were mostly local—Westport and Norwalk – who were interested in changing locations because of landlord inflexibility.”
Haroun added that many prospects were interested but scared of the future of the economy and uncertain about committing to a 10-year lease.
“Because we have a new building we could be flexible on how to carve out the needed space for each prospective tenant and we have the high ceilings which is very desirable compared to older buildings,” he said.
“We worked closely with our real estate broker and both of us survived by perseverance.”
Haroun said the prospects were not interested in downtown Westport.
“The problem is price and parking,” he said. “Landlords can’t expect $100 per foot any more and tenants don’t even want to spend $80-$90 for a showroom.”
“Kohler Premium Showroom took a while,” Haroun said. “They came back several times, and they are really the anchor tenant that pieces it all together.”
Haroun added, “Surface, a high end countertop and stone fabricator, has a busy workshop in Bridgeport but needed an attractive showroom. They chose to expand to Westport. This is the hub of where most of their business base is from. Surface is a good accompaniment to Kohler.”
Kimberly Melanson, co-owner with Vasili Gisasimakis, of Bird, a Hair Salon, said the location is ideal.
“It’s gorgeous, beautiful, and it’s centrally located away from the downtown area,” she said. “It’s a great location for our clients and the location will attract new clients too.”
Haroun said while 1320 Post Road East is fully leased, his next door 1300 Post Road East, designed for a bank, is still seeking a tenant.
