Louis Dreyfus proposes 500,000 s.f. Stamford office building.

Louis Dreyfus Property Group, an international real estate company, in joint venture with Apollo Real Estate Investment Fund II, L.P., has proposed plans for a new 500,000 square-foot Class A office building in downtown Stamford, CT.

Called Connecticut Place, the new 22-story office building

would be built on approximately a five-acre site fronting on Washington Boulevard and Richmond Hill Avenue, directly off Exit 7 of I-95 and across from the new Swiss Bank headquarters complex. The site presently includes 24 Richmond Hill Avenue, a nine-story, 68,000 square-foot office building owned and managed by Louis Dreyfus Property Group.

Designed by the internationally renowned architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Connecticut Place will have floor-plates of up to 25,000 square feet and the capacity for a super-floor trading area with a clear span of 60,000 square feet. The proposed building includes a six-level parking structure with approximately 2.5 parking spaces per 1,000 rentable square feet of space. The building's interior would feature state-of-the-art building systems and finishes and materials typical of the finest office buildings.

Connecticut Place is located one block from the MetroNorth train station and plans to have direct access to the north and south ramps of 1-95, The building will offer unobstructed panoramic views of the city and Long Island Sound.

"In a market building a reputation for its world-class office buildings, Connecticut Place will set a new standard for excellence in design and services," said Jeffrey Sussman, president of Louis Dreyfus Property Group. "We are seeing a great deal of interest in this building from major corporations throughout our region."

Sussman said Louis Dreyfus Property Group plans to formally submit plans to the City of Stamford for Connecticut Place in the near future.

"Stamford has emerged as one of the nation's premier corporate office markets," Sussman said. "With the recent arrival of such multinational companies as Swiss Bank and Zurich Re, Stamford is becoming an international financial services center as well. With Connecticut Place, we will have an important corporate facility that is located at the heart of one of the most prestigious office corridors in the Northeast."

Louis Dreyfus Property Group owns and manages 2.5 million square feet of office space in North America and Europe, with plans to develop an additional 2.5 million square feet in the very near future. Currently, Louis Dreyfus Property Group has approvals for several major corporate office projects in Fairfield and Westchester counties totaling approximately 1.4 million square feet. In addition to Connecticut Place, they include: