Annex Port Storage Spots Sold For $17M+

A Massachusetts-based company has purchased a handful of waterfront storage properties in the Annex for over $17 million — in anticipation of a federally subsidized harbor-deepening project that promises to boost business in New Haven’s already bustling industrial port.

That was one of New Haven’s latest local property deals. (See below for a full roundup.)

According to the city’s land records database, on March 21, 30 Waterfront LLC purchased 30 Waterfront St., 31 Waterfront St., 145 Alabama St., and a few other adjacent parcels from New Haven Terminal Incorporated for a total of $17,629,400.

The city last appraised those properties — which include several warehouse, office, and garage buildings, as well as outdoor storage areas — for tax purposes as worth in excess of $18 million.

The new owner of these port-district properties is a holding company controlled by Enstructure. 

According to its website, Enstructure is a ​“privately-held terminals and logistics infrastructure company” that is based out of Wellesley, Mass. Founded in 2016, it owns and operates ​“an integrated network of marine terminals, rail terminals, warehouses and truck fleets across the eastern half of the United States.”

In an email statement provided to the Independent, Enstructure Co-CEOs Matthew Satnick and Philippe DeMontigny said that the properties their company recently purchased have long been used by Gateway Terminal, which is an Enstructure subsidiary company.

“Gateway has been leasing the properties acquired, which consist of breakbulk and warehousing facilities, for more than a decade,” Satnick and DeMontigny said. ​“When we were presented with the option to purchase the properties, we saw it as a tremendous opportunity to not only continue to use it for our current port and terminal operations, but also potentially further invest in and develop the site. With the deepening of the harbor, we anticipate more demand for terminal and warehousing solutions in the Port of New Haven, and we are excited to play a role in the port and the region’s continued growth.”

That harbor-deepening comment is in reference to the $63 million federally funded New Haven Harbor Navigation Improvement Project. As U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and top city and port officials explained in January 2022, that money will be used to to deepen the federal navigation channel within the harbor from 35 to 40 feet so that more larger ships can drop off goods at New Haven’s industrial ports in the Annex.

Sally Kruse, who is the executive director of New Haven’s Port Authority, told the Independent that the the money for the dredging project has been appropriated through Congress, the feasibility study is complete, and the Army Corps of Engineers is now in the design phase. ​“Now they are actually working out the details” of how exactly deepening the harbor is going to work, and how they’ll be removing some of a rock ledge that currently sits near the mouth of New Haven harbor.”

“The actual dredging is to begin in October 2025,” she said, because the work can be done only during the winter months ​“because of various fisheries’ needs.”

Some of the terminals that already operate in New Haven’s Annex port ​“have begun to make the landside improvements to accommodate larger ships when they come in,” Kruse said. And so Enstructure’s explanation that its purchase is in line with expecting more demand for port terminals and warehouses makes sense. (She noted that, to the best of her understanding, New Haven Terminal has kept ownership of its oil tanks in the Annex port area, but has sold everything else — including warehouses, garages, and outdoor storage areas — to Enstructure.)

Oil. Concrete. Sand. Lumber

What kinds of goods are stored in this industrial waterfront part of the city today, not just in Enstructure’s properties, but across the port?

“Bulk liquid, petroleum and chemical,” Kruse said, and what’s called ​“bulk and break bulk cargo.” That includes road sand, salt, cement, and scrap metal, she said, all of which are stored in the Annex and shipped out of New Haven. 

There’s also a fair amount of ​“lumber and steel and wire,” she said, which are stored both in warehouse and outside on storage lots.

“New Haven is not one of the container ports,” Kruse continued, meaning ​“you’re not going to find furniture and food” shipped in and out of of the Annex.

Why not? ​“Because nobody ever built the facilities” to accommodate those types of goods.

“New Haven,” she said, ​“is where, as a former Coast Guard commandant once said, Western New England gets its energy. This is where the aviation fuel for Bradley Airport and the Massachusetts Air National Guard come into New Haven.” It’s where home heating oil and gasoline come into the area. This is also a site where biodiesel blending takes place, and where asphalt gets mixed.

Kruse said that Enstructure is ​“very active” and clearly ​“seeking to grow. They are looking to expand their business.” And, like many companies that operate in the port, ​“they are starved for land.” And eager to buy and use whatever they can.

29 West River Condos Sold For $2M+

In other recent local property sales:

• On May 22, Yale New Haven Hospital purchased the six-story lab building at 55 Park St. from Fusco Park Street Associates for $101.15 million. The city last appraised that property for tax purposes as worth $83.7 million. Click here to read a full article about that transaction.

• On March 8, an affiliate of the lab builder Ancora paid more than $10.6 million to buy a corner of the ex-Coliseum site from an affiliate of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners. Click here and here for previous articles about that transaction.

• On March 7, Grasso Residential LLC, a holding company controlled by local landlord Yoseph Katz, spent more than $2 million buying 29 different condos in the Westview Commons complex between 1191 and 1243 Ella T. Grasso Blvd. from West River Rentals LLC, a holding company controlled by North Haven’s Robert Kesselman. The city last appraised those properties for tax purposes as worth around $1.5 million.

• On Feb. 9, Singa Properties LLC, a holding company controlled by Woodbridge’s Paul Kuriakose, Neelima Kaushal, and Neeraj Kaushal, spent $1.63 million buying the six-unit apartment building at 36 Lyon St. from 38 Lyon Damon Associates LLC, a holding company controlled by Douglas Kempner, Robert Kempner, and Peter Kempner of White Plains, N.Y. That property last sold for $950,000 in 2018, and the city last appraised it for tax purposes as worth $770,800.

See below for a full list of recent local property deals.