Westport’s Kowalsky family has sold The Village Center shopping complex at 605-645 Post Road East, anchored by The Fresh Market, to Equity One, a Miami shopping center owner, developer and operator, for $54.25 million, according to a filing today in the Westport Town Clerk’s Office.
The Fresh Market anchors The Village Center shopping complex that includes properties on both sides of Post Road East. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The purchase includes properties on both sides of Post Road East, among them Dan’s Liquors, Colonial Druggists, Patio.com, Earth Animal and the UPS Store.
It is the second major Westport acquisition by Equity One in a year. In October 2012 it purchased Compo Acres Shopping Center from Heyman Properties for $30.3 million.
The latest sale, which had been in the works for months, according to real estate sources, will net the Town of Westport $135,625 in conveyance taxes.
Equity One has already put the 89.041-square foot property on its website for prospective tenants. It says there is currently one vacancy.
The Kowalsky family, best known for its Kowalsky Bros. Inc., general contractors, broke ground on the properties in 1969 and it was completed in 1974, according to Jay Kowalsky, president of Kowalsky Real Estate. The complex covers 7.55 acres and includes four buildings.
Fresh Market opened in 2009 in space that had formerly been occupied by Shaw’s Supermarket and Grand Union.
Jon Angel, president, and Brett Sherman, CCIM, senior vice president, of Angel Commercial L.L.C., a Southport-based commercial real estate brokerage firm, represented the seller in the marketing and disposition of the property and Scott Gerard of Murtha Cullina L.L.P. was the corporate counsel representing the seller in the transaction.
“There is a high demand for irreplaceable properties such as this since the current zoning codes prevent new construction exceeding 10,000 SF in any one building. Furthermore, there is a strong and competitive audience to acquire cash flowing assets in proven retail markets,” said Angel.
“The demographic profile of the area created the opportunity to produce a reliable income with long term growth.”
Sherman, who has also been the leasing agent for the complex since 2008, said, “The procurement of quality tenants for the retail center has increased the property’s value, making this a desirable acquisition which attracted a tremendous amount of interest from both local and national buyers”.
Equity One is a leading shopping center developer and owner focused on urban communities. Since 2009 the company has acquired or developed almost $2 billion in retail assets, concentrated in the New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and South Florida areas, according to its website.
Equity One’s other Connecticut properties are in Darien, Ridgefield, Danbury, Southbury, and Enfield.
