Inman

New England family sells shops

Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. purchased The Dock Shopping Center, a 269,000-square-foot retail center in Stratford, Conn.

The value of the transaction was approximately $50.3 million, which also includes an adjacent 192-slip marina along the Housatonic River.

The property is UBP’s ninth retail acquisition in Connecticut.

The Dock is one of the largest retail centers in the Fairfield County trade area, and is anchored by a 60,000-square-foot Stop & Shop Supermarket. The tenant roster also includes Staples, Petco, JoAnne Fabrics, Toy Works and Blockbuster Video, as well as a former 100,000-square-foot Bradlee’s.

UBP purchased the property from the Connecticut-based Osborne family, who has owned and operated the property for several generations. The center was built in 1971 on the site acquired by the family in 1951, and operated as a coal yard for two decades. In 1968, when the local power plant switched to oil, the Osbornes ceased running the yard and built the shopping center on the property. In 1986, the retail center was expanded, and in the 1990s, the adjacent Marina at the Dock was constructed.

Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust.

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