Thomas Breen photo
Industrial warehouse property now under new ownership.
Criterion Group's Shibber Khan: One year, $27M+ spent on New Haven real estate.
A Queens-based real estate investment group spent over $21 million buying three industrial waterfront properties in the Annex, in some of the city’s latest property transactions.
According to the city land records database, on Jan. 21, 100 Wheeler Street Industrial LLC spent a total of $21,437,000 in three separate deals to buy 100 Wheeler St., 102 Wheeler St., and 238 Fairmont Ave.
Those three properties consist of an eight-unit warehouse, a single-unit warehouse, and a sloping plot of overgrown vacant land, all of which stretch across nearly 19 acres adjacent to where the Quinnipiac River feeds into the New Haven Harbor.
The properties last sold for roughly $1.8 million (across two separate transactions in 2003 and 2007). The city last appraised all three as worth just over $9.1 million in total.
The new owner of 100 Wheeler, 102 Wheeler, and 238 Fairmont is a holding company controlled by Shibber Khan’s the Criterion Group.
The companies that sold these three Annex properties to Khan’s company are all controlled by Ronald Esposito of North Haven.
Thomas Breen photo
100 Wheeler St.
Why did The Criterion Group spend over $21 million buying 100 Wheeler, 102 Wheeler, and 238 Fairmont?
“It’s just an investment” in “existing cash-flowing” properties, Khan told the Independent in a recent phone interview.
Does his company plan on making any changes to the properties? To knock anything down, or build anything new?
“Right now, we haven’t gotten as far as any of that,” Khan said. For the time being, his company won’t be making any changes to these properties. The buildings should stay the same. The existing commercial tenants should remain in place.
Why has his company decided to drop more than $27 million in New Haven real estate over the past year?
“We like to invest in towns and cities that have great educational institutions,” Khan said.
Industrial street art outside 100 Wheeler.
According to signs on the side of the buildings, logos on the sides of trucks coming in and out of the industrial properties, and Internet searches for businesses with 100 Wheeler or 102 Wheeler as their address, some of the properties’ current tenants include:
• An electrical supply distributor called Irby.
• A waste-management company called A‑One Recycling.
• An electrical contracting company called Consolidated Electric.
• A construction- and industrial-supplies distributor called White Cap.
Roundup: ConnCORP, "Queen Anne," Mandy
In other recent local property transactions:
• On Jan. 21, the locally based Dixwell Plaza redevelopment firm ConnCORP purchased a six-unit apartment complex at 264 Newhall St. from Melinda Douglass for $575,000. That property last sold for $15,000 in 2000, and the city last appraised it as worth $528,400. “Much of our work at ConnCORP has been dedicated towards providing quality and affordable housing for our community,” ConnCORP Chief Operating Officer Paul McCraven told the Independent when asked for comment on this property deal. “This purchase at 264 Newhall Street is another important step with that goal in mind. We are committed to not only being responsible landlords, but also the preservation of affordable housing in the Newhallville and Dixwell neighborhoods.”
• On Jan. 24, Shelton Ventures LLC — a holding company controlled by Jacob, Johnathan, and Michael Schattner — spent $530,000 purchasing the four-family house at 262 Sherman Ave. from William Sze. Followers of the indispensable local Twitter feed DFA New Haven might recognize this brightly-colored “Queen Anne”-style home from a complimentary shoutout last year. (See screenshot of Tweet above, which includes an initial misidentification of the street as Dwight.) The property last sold for $244,387 in 2019, and the city last appraised it as worth $686,400.
• An affiliate of the local megalandlord Mandy Management, dubbed Climax-New Haven LLC, bought two more two-family homes at 247 Munson St. and 24 Daisy St. in two separate transactions totaling $370,000.
See below for a full roundup of recent property sales.
Big ups to the house painter!