Perhaps the 94,000-square-foot office building stokes your interest. Or maybe the former bank turned offices turns your head. Perhaps you’d prefer the library, the home or the sprawling parking lots.
The hodgepodge of real estate comes on the market as the New England Institute of Technology continues the process of relocating to East Greenwich.
In its wake, the college will leave its Warwick campus along Post Road, a collection of seven buildings spread over 13.5 acres.
Now the job of finding a buyer – or buyers – falls to MG Commercial President Michael Giuttari and his team.
“We pitch it to everybody: developers, investors, small users, large users,” he said.
Giuttari says the buildings – perhaps unsurprisingly – would be best suited for an educational institution that could move into the floors of classrooms and offices now teaming with students and faculty. But Giuttari said colleges shopping for entire campuses are few and far between. Tough economic times also mean few private companies looking for sprawling complexes or hulking buildings.
Much more likely, Giuttari said, is a collection of smaller buyers and investors plucking off pieces of the campus. The school is also willing to lease the space. Some buyers or tenants may keep the buildings largely the same while others could go on a wholesale renovation project.
Giuttari’s team started marketing the properties last week, preparing to erect signs in front of the college’s buildings, drafting sales brochures (prices for the properties have not been determined yet) and readying to blast the Internet with information about the properties. Giuttari said staff is also reaching out personally to potential buyers in Rhode Island and throughout New England.
There is potentially something for everyone. At the heart of the campus sits New England Tech’s main academic building: a 94,000-square-foot, three-story building with 5.5 acres of parking. The college is also offering its two-story library, two office buildings, a warehouse and a residence converted to offices.
The offerings include properties on both sides of Post Road, meaning a developer could not come in, level the campus and construct an entirely new development. A developer would find, however, easy access to T.F. Green Airport, the terminal that sits just north of the campus.
“For something of this size to be available on Post Road at the airport in Warwick, there’s a decent need for that in the market,” said Leeds Mitchell IV, a vice president at MG Commercial and an agent assigned to the property.
Giuttari expects it will take time to sell all the buildings. The company inked an 18-month listing contract with New England Tech. (Most listing contracts are for six months, Giuttari said.)
Buyers will also need to wait until New England Tech vacates the campus to move in. The school has already moved some of its academic programs to East Greenwich. It hopes to move most of the remaining programs and offices on Post Road by the end of July, said Steve Kitchin, vice president for corporate education and training at New England Tech.
Some programs – air conditioning, construction, heating, plumbing and refrigeration – will stay on Post Road until the college has a chance to build additional facilities in East Greenwich. Kitchin said the school would likely hammer out an agreement with a buyer that allows the programs to stay until East Greenwich is ready.
The school will also retain its four-building Access Road campus north of its Post Road complex. Among other programs, the northern campus hosts the school’s signature automotive program visible from Interstate 95. The school has outfitted that campus with solar panels, a wind turbine and other upgrades.
“The investment there is significant and as such why we want to continue operations on that campus,” Kitchin said.
At the Post Road campus, almost everything save a few homes must go. The campus becomes the second college campus to go on the market in Rhode Island in the last five years. Barrington currently holds a $5.2 million contract to purchase the Zion Bible College campus, after the school moved to Haverhill, Mass., in 2008. Voters still must approve the deal and the town has yet to decide the ultimate use for the 40-acre property.
“City officials have been having preliminary discussions with New England Tech about the future of their property as we proceed with development of our new comprehensive plan,” Baker said. “As this continues, the city will be giving full consideration to any requests and proposals they have for reuse of their properties in the context of the community’s vision for the city going forward.”
Potential buyers are likely to run the gamut, said Matt Messier, principal at CNL Commercial Real Estate. The Florida-based team brokered the sale of Zion and focuses on nontraditional real estate, such as college campuses.
Messier said when pitching the Zion campus, CNL received interest from residential developers to office users. The company also launched a nationwide bid to pitch the campus as the New England outpost of a college elsewhere in the country.
For New England Tech, Messier said the ideal buyer is an educational institution, which would likely pay top dollar to avoid spending far more to construct new facilities. Barring that, Messier said the next best option would be to break up the campus among buyers with specialized needs. For example, selling the library to a company that needs a library-like facility, while a smaller office building goes to a small company.
“If you can find the right user then these are great opportunities for people,” Messier said. •
