FAIRFIELD COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL January 19, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 3
7 | BRIDGEPORT REMAKE
20 | NEWSMAKERS
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Tech, amenities raise the Class A bar
MATRIX UPS THE ANTE Matrix’s Aaron Smiles, commercial leasing agent, left, and Michael Brown, executive director of real estate services. Photo by Bill Fallon
BY BILL FALLON bfallon@westfairinc.com THE MATRIX CORPORATE CENTER at 39 Old Ridgebury Road in Danbury recently inked leases with two new tenants — Macromark, a direct marketing agency, and the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference — that took a total 17,500 square feet between them. NewOak, a Manhattanbased financial advisory firm, took another 10,000 square feet, upping a presence it had maintained in a Matrix corporate suite. The three companies’ names and logos dominate a celebratory banner in the remade-to-wow, two-story Matrix atrium in its central core. The core is a marble and glass showcase of meeting rooms, banquet halls, food facilities and the amenities of a downtown, like a » MATRIX, page 13
Top-tier Greenwich homes prove hot in 2014 BY BILL FALLON bfallon@westfairinc.com HOULIHAN LAWRENCE, WHICH LAST YEAR opened a Greenwich real estate office and operates 26 offices regionally, said January brings “positive momentum to report in Greenwich real estate.” Homes featuring seven- and eight-figure price tags are leading the charge. Key metrics of the residential Houlihan Lawrence 2014 Q4 Market Report for Greenwich include sales of homes priced at and above $10 million jumping 87 percent and, in Old Greenwich, sales of houses priced between $4 million and $5 million rising 400 percent, “a clear sign of renewed interest in the area,” the company said. In 2014, the luxury market ($10 millionplus) was buoyed by continued gains on Wall
Street and the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy, Houlihan Lawrence said, giving buyers the means and the confidence to purchase the most expensive properties. In greater Greenwich, Houlihan Lawrence reported, sales of $10 million-plus homes rose 87 percent and the median price was up 11 percent over the previous year. “Inventory is on the rise in the $10 millionplus range, and buyers in this price range have a wide selection of important properties to choose from,” the company reported. North of the Merritt Parkway, sales more than doubled in the $10 million price range in 2014. Sales of all homes in that area were down for the year by 11 percent, but the median sale price increased by 20 percent. With ample inventory, “North of the Parkway” offers value and opportunity for buyers, the company said.
“South of the Parkway was firing on all cylinders,” Houlihan Lawrence reported. The median sale price increased 14 percent compared with 2013 and the number of homes sold grew by 5 percent. With pending sales (those expected to close within 60 to 90 days) up by 8 percent and inventory down by 6 percent, “all indicators point to a competitive spring market South of the Parkway.” Houlihan Lawrence reported total home sales for greater Greenwich at 143 for the fourth quarter of 2014, down from 146 sales for the same period in 2013. In total sales for the year, 2013 bested 2014, 646 to 606 sales. The average sale price of $2,467,070 for the fourth quarter of 2014 was down 8.3 percent compared with the average price of $2,690,572 for the same period in 2013. For the full year, however, the » RESIDENTIAL, page 4