A new Wien & Malkin-led partnership has acquired more than 4,000 square feet of prime retail space in downtown Westport, CT, directly adjacent to 17,300 square feet already owned by another Wien & Malkin partnership. The adjusted purchase price was $8.2 million, in an all-cash transaction.

The property currently comprises three stores at 103-107 Main Street, the primary shopping corridor of one of the nation's most affluent communities. The average household income within a three-mile radius of the site is $154,700, which is nearly two and a half times the national average.

"The Westport Main Street retail market is drum tight, it is such a short street and all the national retailers now compete to be there," says Anthony E. Malkin, President of W&M Properties.

"We acquired the adjacent property in 2003 on the basis that it offered a decent return on rents that were below market," Mr. Malkin continues. "These new shops add to our critical mass there, benefiting both properties. We see this as a bond-safe investment with pre-tax equivalent yields in excess of comparable treasuries, and with built-in upside from lease rolls down the road. This is superbly located, irreplaceable real estate."

The stores at the newly acquired property are Sigrid Olsen, a fashion apparel brand owned by Liz Claiborne, Inc., and two long-time fixtures of the local retail market, Francois DuPont Jewelers and Westport Pizzeria. Their neighbors include Ann Taylor, The Gap and J. McLaughlin, which are in spaces owned by the earlier Wien & Malkin partnership.

The six tenants occupy their stores under net lease terms well below market that require them to pay their own operating and maintenance costs.

"The affluence of Westport and surrounding communities, the long-term prospects of Main Street as a shopping mecca, and the absence of any chance to add to competitive supply provided incentives to make this second acquisition," says Mr. Malkin. "The supply remains constant while retail chains compete for a foothold in this very choice market, putting more upward pressure on rents."

Westport is in southern Fairfield County, which hosts a major concentration of corporate headquarters. The town is approximately 50 miles northeast of Manhattan and some 13 miles east of Stamford.