New Haven, CT
O,R&L Commercial is pleased to announce an investment sale of “York Square Broadway,” located at 51-55 and 57-61 Broadway in New Haven, CT. The property consists of two Mixed-Use Retail / Office / Multi-family buildings totaling 30,262± SF, which date back to the early 1900’s. Situated amongst the popular “Shops at Yale,” the buildings are a diversified mixed-use asset, sandwiched between the Apple Store and Urban Outfitters.
Tenants at the property include: Campus Customs (maker of Yale apparel and gifts); Broadway Kitchen (new restaurant with Mediterranean roots and American staples); Blue Jay Cleaners (long-term drycleaner serving the Yale community); Blue Mercury (national cosmetics retail chain); Broadway Salon, One Good for Another Consignment and four newly constructed and nicely finished one-bedroom residential apartments.
The complex included 7,300± SF of recently vacant office/flex space that had been the headquarters for an architectural firm for 30 years.
Frank Hird, SIOR and Will Braun of O,R&L Commercial in Branford represented the Seller, Yale Mall Partnership and also procured the buyer, Yale University. This property transferred for $7,000,000. The attorney representing the Seller was Lawrence Levinson, Esq. of The Law Offices of Lawrence A. Levinson in New Haven.
History of the building as described by one of the Sellers of the property, Maria Vitagliano: By the time the Vitagliano brothers – Salvatore “Sal”, Nicholas “Nick”, James “Jimmy”, and Gennaro “Gerry” purchased the York Square Broadway site in 1982, they had already been serving the Yale New Haven community for over 4 decades. Along with their father, Thomas Sr, they established Blue Jay Cleaners and Dyers on Broadway in 1937, which not only did dry cleaning but also fine tailoring and leather crafting, and made bespoke suits and gowns by hand for Yale’s elite community. The oldest brother Sal was a master tailor known for sartorial splendor.
Serving their country during WWII, Gerry was awarded a bronze star as a combat medic in the Mediterranean, and Jimmy served as a Seabee in the Pacific. Nick was too old for the draft so he enlisted and served by setting up radio communication stations in the China-Burma Theater. The oldest brother Sal stayed behind to run the family business, which at that time was dedicated mostly to cleaning and tailoring military uniforms. In the post-war era, the brothers got to work and expanded the business which included gigantic press machines for pressing drapery for Yale’s auditoriums such as Woolsey Hall. After decades of hard work, the family acquired financing to purchase the property in 1982, when they also sold the Blue Jay Cleaners to its current owners, the Hwang family who had a strong familial bond with their predecessors. But the brothers never left Broadway!– and continued to do building maintenance at the property for many years. The family was proud to see the property become home to many iconic New Haven establishments, such as York Square Cinema, Educated Burgher, and Campus Customs which continues to thrive today. After the brothers passed away, management was taken over by the next generation, namely Sal’s son Thomas, and more recently, Nick’s daughter Maria. On behalf of the family, Maria noted: “We are very proud of our fathers. They did not have an easy life and started working full time when they were just kids during the Great Depression. They unflinchingly served their country, worked hard to raise their families, and left a legacy. They were truly a part of the ‘Great Generation’.
O,R&L Commercial, LLC with offices in Branford and Rocky Hill represents landlords, tenants, sellers and buyers in the office, retail, medical, multi-family, investment and industrial markets.
O,R&L Integrated Services is a full-service real estate firm that specializes in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage, Commercial Construction, and Facility Management and Maintenance. For additional information on this sale or other transactions you may contact O,R&L Commercial at 203-488-1555 and for more information regarding O,R&L Commercial, visit online at orlcommercial.com.
For further information contact:
Frank Hird, SIOR or Will Braun
(203) 488-1555
