Thomas Breen photo
545 Long Wharf Dr.
The Knights of Columbus has purchased a nine-story Long Wharf office tower for $12.8 million a year after the building went into foreclosure, and over a decade after the building last sold for $40 million.
According to the city land record database, 545 Real Estate Holdings LLC, a holding company owned by the New Haven-based international Catholic fraternal organization and life insurance company the Knights of Columbus, purchased the office tower at 545 Long Wharf Dr. on Jan. 10 for $12.81 million from 545 Long Wharf Drive Holdings LLC, a holding company owned by Deutsche Bank National Trust Company.
Knights of Columbus spokesperson Joe Cullen said that the building will be used for the organization’s “staffing and space needs.” He said he did not have further details on how specifically the building will be used.
A directory plaque inside the office tower’s lobby showed that the five of the building’s floors currently have tenants.
Those tenants include The Water Club, Ameriprise Financial, Pioneer Education, Premier Education Group, Flo-Tech LLC, A Flex Technology Group Company, Morgan Stanley, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, and Barclay Duncan.
According to the directory, floors two, three, four, and seven are currently empty.
When asked, Cullen said the building will remain on the tax rolls. The Knights of Columbus is listed with the federal Internal Revenue Services a 501(c)(8) fraternal society nonprofit. This fiscal year, it paid over $630,000 in city property taxes on its headquarters at 3 Church St.
A groundfloor hallway inside 545 Long Wharf.
The glass-and-brick office building at 545 Long Wharf Dr. stands on the edge of the Long Island Sound, immediately adjacent to the 15-story Long Wharf Maritime Center at 555 Long Wharf Dr..
According to the city assessor’s database, 545 Long Wharf Dr. was built in 1988 and was last appraised by the city as worth $31,260,500.
The building was purchased for $40 million in 2007 by New Boston Long Wharf LLC, a holding company owned by the Burlington, Massachusetts-based investment firm, New Boston Fund, Inc.
According to city land records and the state judicial website, the previous owners sued the city in 2017 to reduce the $41,502,100 tax appraisal the building had received from the city in 2016.
In August 2018, a state judge ordered the appraisal be dropped by more than $10 million to the current level of $31,260,500.
In July 2017, Deutsche Bank sued New Boston Fund for falling behind on its $31 million mortgage for the building.
The bank formally foreclosed on the building in September 2018.
According to the receiver’s report filed in that foreclosure lawsuit, as of September 2018, nine of the building’s 17 office suites were vacant at that time.
“The recent auction was an important milestone,” city Acting Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli said about the Knights of Columbus purchase of the foreclosed property.