New London — A local real estate development company has purchased and is preparing to market the former Merrill Lynch office building at 92 Eugene O’Neill Drive.

READCO of Old Lyme purchased the 9,000-square-foot office building for $890,000 last week, public records show. Merrill Lynch had resided in the office building for more than two decades before its move to a new larger space in Old Mistick Village last year.

READCO President Michael Lech said the reason for the purchase was what he views as a “market on the rise” in New London. Lech said his company would like to rent the space to one entity.

He said the building is an easy fit into his company’s portfolio since it has parking, is easily adaptable space for a variety of small businesses and is close to both a transportation hub and downtown amenities. READCO also owns the Citizens Bank building across the street at 63 Eugene O’Neill Drive, a portion of which is being offered for lease.

Lech described READCO as a family-owned real estate investment, development and property management company with interests across New England and beyond. READCO owns the Stop & Shop grocery stores in Pawcatuck and East Lyme, for some local examples.

Lech said he sees New London as a place to “live, work and play.” With the brisk pace of property sales, renovations and new businesses opening along Bank and State streets, Lech called Eugene O’Neill one of the hot spots in the region for development. “The possibilities of New London are starting to become kinetic,” he said.

US Properties represented both READCO and the seller of the property, listed in public records as Brothers Realty Two LLC of Waterford.

“The city is excited to see READCO extend their real estate portfolio here in New London,” said Felix Reyes, director of the city's Office of Planning and Development. “This is one of several property transactions we have seen take place this summer and look forward to working with them on their development plans.”

g.smith@theday.com