Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Inventory’s up but residential sales just hit a 4-year low … & more

<em>Clockwise from top left: Greenwich gets its first Coldwell Banker Global Luxury office (credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel), Sears in Westchester is set to close as chain files for bankruptcy (credit: Mike Mozart), Fairfield County’s third-quarter office market data ‘heavily skewed’ by Charter Communications lease (credit: Loopnet), and graphic design firm signs lease at Trumbull building vacated by Unilever last year (credit: Loopnet).</em>
Clockwise from top left: Greenwich gets its first Coldwell Banker Global Luxury office (credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel), Sears in Westchester is set to close as chain files for bankruptcy (credit: Mike Mozart), Fairfield County’s third-quarter office market data ‘heavily skewed’ by Charter Communications lease (credit: Loopnet), and graphic design firm signs lease at Trumbull building vacated by Unilever last year (credit: Loopnet).

Residential sales hit 4-year low in Westchester County
Residential sales in Westchester between July and September were lower than they have been for the past four years, LoHud reported. The county saw 3,022 sales in the third quarter of this year, down from 3,189 in the same quarter last year, according to a report issued by Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors subsidiary Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Services. Inventory, meanwhile, was up from 4,135 last year to 4,175 this year, the outlet reported. While one broker told the outlet the market is in “correction mode,” Barry Kramer, the president of HGAR and principal broker for Westchester Choice Realty, said he felt the “number of sales today remains strong.” [LoHud]

Charter Communications lease in Stamford the largest in over a decade
A Charter Communications lease may have made Fairfield County’s office market seem more “robust” than it actually was in the third quarter of 2018, according to the Fairfield County Business Journal. Data from CBRE shows that the county had 980,000 square feet of leasing activity in the third quarter — ”nearly as much as the previous two quarters combined,” according to the outlet. But 532,000 of those square feet were leased by Charter at a building on Washington Boulevard in Stamford. The lease was the largest office transaction in the region in more than ten years, the outlet reported. Tom Pajolek, the executive vice president at CBRE’s Stamford office, told the outlet data from this past quarter was “heavily skewed and influenced” by the Charter lease. [FBJ]

Coldwell Banker Global Luxury opens in Greenwich
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Connecticut opened a Global Luxury office in Greenwich, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. The sales office on Field Point Road, which has more than 200 affiliated agents, is Coldwell Banker’s first Global Luxury-branded office in the town, according to the outlet. The location works because Greenwich “has always been a leading power player in the global luxury market,” Joe Valvano, the president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Connecticut and Westchester County, told the outlet. [FBJ]

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One Sears in Westchester is set to close as chain files for bankruptcy
A Sears in Yorktown is among the 142 stores that Sears Holdings plans to shutter as part of its bankruptcy filing, LoHud reported. The chain on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection amid long-standing financial woes. The Sears at Jefferson Valley Mall in Yorktown will likely launch a liquidation sale soon, but won’t close just yet, according to Sears chairman Eddie Lampert. “As we look toward the holiday season, Sears and Kmart stores remain open for business and our dedicated associates look forward to serving our members and customers,” he said. Sears previously announced that it planned to close 46 other stores by November, according to the outlet. So far, the Sears stores in White Plains and in Yonkers are staying open. [LoHud]

Graphic design firm signs lease at Trumbull building vacated by Unilever last year
Last year, consumer goods company Unilever left a building in Trumbull and moved to Shelton. Now, the vacant space has its first new tenant since that move. A graphic design firm called Newbury Rain signed a seven-year lease at the building on Merritt Boulevard, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. Newbury Rain will move into the new 6,000-square-foot space after vacating its current space on Nutmeg Drive, according to the outlet. Avison Young helped the firm secure the lease at the three-floor building. [FBJ]