Real Estate Roundup: Village Suites All Sold

A local landlord purchased full control of a 112-room extended stay hotel on Long Wharf, in one of the city’s latest property transactions.

According to the city land records database, on July 13, Village Suites LLC bought 3 Long Wharf Dr. from HTA-YLW New Haven LLC for $1,756,920. The hotel property last sold for $1,600,000 in 2016.

The property’s new owner — a holding company controlled by NHR Group’s Juan Salas-Romer — has owned and run the 15-building, 112-room Village Suites hotel that sits atop the 3.03-acre site for the past half-decade.

In a recent interview with the Independent, Salas-Romer explained that last Tuesday’s property transaction involved only the land beneath the current hotel.

“We were in a land lease” with the previous owner, he said. The previous owner was a holding company controlled by the Arizona-based medical office building landlord Healthcare Trust of America Inc., which also owns 1 Long Wharf Dr. right next door. ​“We had the option to buy the land,” at 3 Long Wharf Dr., Salas-Romer said. ​“And we acquired it.”

“We wanted to consolidate the property,” he continued, ​“so that we have more control over our destiny.”

He said the the city’s nearly $6.3 million appraisal of 3 Long Wharf Dr. is so much larger than the $1.75 million recent purchase price because the appraisal includes all of the hotel buildings, which Salas-Romer’s company already owned, while the latter covers just the ground that Salas-Romer’s company previously leased.

“We’ve been doing well with the hotel,” Salas-Romer said. ​“We’ve been working with agencies that relocate people for short-term stays, for a few months.”

During the pandemic, he said, the extended stay hotel has partnered with local homelessness service providers like Columbus House, Emergency Shelter Management Services (ESMS), and the United Way to take in people who needed a safe, socially-distanced place to stay when homeless shelters closed.

“Some people are still transitioning” to permanent replacement housing, he said. ​“The full transition is going to happen in September.”

When his company first took over the Village Suites in 2016, Salas-Romer explained the extended stay hotel’s business model as appealing to individuals and families in between permanent housing situations. Those include those in need of a place to stay during home renovations, buying or selling a house, or emergency relocation.

Mandy Buys 19 Apts. For $1.86M

In other recent local property transactions:

• Affiliates of the local megalandlord Mandy Management spent another $1,860,000 buying six more residential properties containing 19 different apartments.

Those new Mandy acquisitions include a four-family house at 784 George St., a three-family house at 786 George St., a six-unit apartment house at 244 Sherman Ave., a three-family house at 15 Maple St., a two-family house at 152 Lamberton St., and a single-family house at 115 Morris Ave.

• A two-story, single-family row house at 30 Court St. in Wooster Square sold for $850,000. That property last sold for $450,100 in 2004, and the city last appraised it as worth $425,100.

• A two-story, single-family condo at 116 Crown St. downtown sold for $765,000. That property last sold for $652,133 in 2008, and the city last appraised it as worth $354,000.