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February 14, 2007 STAMFORD, Conn., Feb. 12 -- At first glance, the collection of modernist buildings at High Ridge Park Corporate Center resembles a stage set from the Woody Allen film ''Sleeper.'' Its six buildings were designed, beginning in the late '60s, by Victor Bisharat, the architect who created the Jordanian Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair. Set in a wooded 38-acre enclave less than four miles north of downtown Stamford, near Exit 35 of the Merritt Parkway, the High Ridge property includes a building shaped like a flying saucer that looms over a wide, shallow pond. Others there have futuristic white stucco facades. Billed as a pioneering suburban ''office campus,'' the park lured companies from offices in New York City to the suburbs, where many executives already lived. Its tenants included companies like Xerox, American Thread, Continental Oil, CBS Laboratories and Texas Gulf. General Time, a watch manufacturer, occupied the flying saucer building, complete with a ceiling designed to suggest a timepiece. But by October 2003, High Ridge Park's high-style appearance was no longer seen as Rat Pack cool but rather more like Austin Powers funky. Major tenants like Cadbury Schweppes and Synapse, a marketing firm, were preparing to depart, leaving the complex about 50 percent occupied. That year, George Comfort & Sons, a real estate investment and management firm, in partnership with the Core Plus Real Estate Fund of Angelo, Gordon & Company, a money management firm, bought the site and its 584,000 square feet of space for $79 million and began a $10 million renovation. ''What we thought is that this property had tremendous bones,'' said Peter S. Duncan, president and chief executive of George Comfort & Sons. ''Our asking rent is $35 per square feet. And for the price, the quality of space, the amenities -- it's a great package.'' Just as it once drew companies from New York City to its tree-filled campus, the park is said to be poised to attract tenants weary of higher prices in downtown Stamford and Greenwich. By the end of last year, the average asking rate for commercial properties in suburban Stamford, where the park is situated, was $28.73 a square foot annually, according to statistics from CB Richard Ellis. By contrast, the annual asking rate for downtown Stamford was $37.15. In the central business district of Greenwich, the asking rent was a whopping $73.18, higher than some sections of Manhattan. The renovation of the office park includes adding floor-to-ceiling windows, removing a massive light-blocking porte-cochere, upgrading heating and air-conditioning systems, and redesigning column-crowded lobbies mired in maroon carpet. ''Structurally, it was sound,'' said Mark Rosenstein, the architect and director of construction, charged with the renovations. ''It mainly needed a face-lift.'' Eighty percent of the park is currently occupied. Tenants include Walker Digital, whose principal is Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline.com; two hedge funds; a broker dealer; and Citizens Communications, an original tenant. So far, two companies in Greenwich have signed leases at High Ridge. TNS, a market information firm, leased 27,000 square feet; and recently, UST, the world's largest maker of smokeless tobacco products, signed a lease in the park for 140,000 square feet in the complex's only building with a glass facade, one with a golden hue; it was originally built for Continental Oil. The company is expected to move in at the end of the year, according to Steve Baker, senior director with Cushman & Wakefield, the leasing agent. UST needed the new spaces because it recently sold its headquarters at 100 West Putnam Avenue, one of the most notable office buildings in downtown Greenwich, for $130 million. The property was acquired by Antares, a private equity and development firm. Robert Caruso, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis, a real estate brokerage firm, said Antares planned to ask $150 to $175 a square foot for its space after renovations. Mr. Baker said he had shown High Ridge to several prospective tenants from the financial sector interested in saving money and gaining a range of amenities. The owners are building a pie-shaped 3,200-square-foot cafeteria, and the renovation of a fitness center is complete. The center also has a car-detailing facility, a conference center, dry cleaners and a day care center on the site. Starting in late summer, there will be a shuttle bus to the downtown Stamford Transportation Center. ''As rents continue to increase in Greenwich and in the central business district in Stamford, tenants are going to be forced to make a choice,'' Mr. Baker said. But will there be a suburban migration among commercial tenants? Not likely, said Mr. Caruso of CB Richard Ellis. During 2006, leases were signed for 808,000 square feet in downtown Stamford, compared with 752,000 square feet in suburban Stamford, suggesting that demand is rather evenly divided between downtown and the suburbs. But Mr. Caruso noted that three of the new suburban leases, including the one signed by UST at High Ridge, were for particularly large blocks of space, thereby skewing the statistics last year. In 2005, by contrast, new leases in downtown Stamford totaled 1.07 million square feet, versus about 700,000 square feet in the suburbs. He said he believed that most companies are still willing to pay more for the central business district, especially for properties close to the train station to ensure convenient travel to Manhattan for their employees and clients. Patrick Pinnell, an architect from Haddam, Conn., who taught the history of architectural theory at Yale, said that in the late 1950s and '60s, some corporations moved to parks like High Ridge, following the residential exodus to the suburbs. ''They were drawing people out of the city with the best of intentions for their employees,'' Mr. Pinnell said. ''They provided hairdressers and many other amenities. Gasoline was cheap, and the corporate office parks were closer to the houses of executives.'' Now, the owners of High Ridge are burnishing its retro image. Jodi Gutierrez, the vice president of property management for George Comfort & Sons, said she was searching for more contemporary art and sculpture for the buildings and grounds. Photos: The High Ridge Park Corporate Center in Stamford, Conn., has a building shaped like a flying saucer, right, and others with modernistic shapes.
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