Clarion Partners LLC and Marcus Partners recently announced the signing of a new tenant to Merritt 7 Park in Norwalk, Conn.: Tech firm SmartEquip Inc. has signed an office lease for 13,340 square feet at Building 501. Paul Kauffman & Marc Jacobs of JLL represented the tenant in this deal, while ownership representation was handled by the CBRE team of Tom Pajolek and Ned Burns, along with David Fiore and JoAnn McGrath of Marcus.
“We are incredibly excited to be relocating to Merritt 7,” said SmartEquip CEO, Fernando Pinera. “Staying in Norwalk with first-class amenities was important to our team members. Plus, we wanted a business environment built for the rapidly evolving requirements of today’s growth challenges. Merritt 7 provides an ideal destination for our operations — new outdoor green spaces; versatile amenity spaces; a modern, collaborative setting that emphasizes wellness. The enhanced productivity, creativity and flexibility made Merritt 7 the obvious choice.”
This announcement follows closely after the deal signed with online survey firm Toluna, which will be relocating this year from nearby Wilton, Conn., to occupy roughly 8,000 square feet at Merritt 7. Similarly, Forrester Research moved SiriusDecisions — a Wilton-based company that it acquired in 2018 — from Wilton to Merritt 7 in the summer of 2020.
Uniquely positioned to appeal to diverse tenants from a wide range of industries — including creative, technology, media, financial and corporate service companies — Merritt 7 is also home to premier tenants, such as Siemens, IBM, Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Xerox and Regus. SmartEquip will be occupying a recent buildout on the fifth floor of the newly renovated Building 501.
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The Clarion and Marcus partnership embarked on an extensive renovation program in 2018, which employed Gensler to redesign and modernize interior and exterior common areas and amenities for buildings 501 and 601. Improvements include new and refreshed lobby spaces for both buildings; a new multipurpose center that’s designed to accommodate a variety of conferencing, event, meeting and flex space needs; and a new indoor-outdoor multipurpose center that opens directly to a new, 35,000-square-foot landscaped plaza directly accessible from both buildings. Upon completion of the renovation, amenities at Merritt 7 will include a total of more than 60,000 square feet of curated outdoor amenity space; more than 10,000 square feet of flexible indoor work and meeting space; and four full-service cafes.
Among the latest milestones in the property’s upgrade and innovation program is its LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council; a WiredScore Gold at buildings 501 and 601; and a Fitwel Two-Star rating for the entire property.
Merritt 7 is arguably the largest and most prominent corporate park in Fairfield County. Situated on 22 acres along the Norwalk River, the six-building property incorporates 1.4 million square feet of class A suburban metro New York office space.
The park boasts an excellent location within one of the most attractive corporate office corridors in the tri-state area — conveniently connected to the entire New York City metropolitan area, as well as to all major thoroughfares in Fairfield County. The Norwalk Bus service offers dedicated transit service to all Merritt 7 buildings.
Travelling via the South Norwalk Metro North Station ensures that both New Haven and Manhattan are less than an hour away. Moreover, the on-site Merritt 7 train station — scheduled for completion in 2022 — will deliver additional service, including door-to-door transportation to Grand Central Terminal, thereby providing direct access from NYC and making the Norwalk corporate park ideal for either a headquarters relocation or a satellite office.
