Metropolitan Realty Associates Sells Garden City, NY Complex for $ 39.25 Million to NYC Investors
Jericho, NY (PRWEB) August 01, 2011
Six years after buying an architecturally distinctive, vacant pharmaceutical plant in Garden City and spending millions of dollars converting it into a modern mixed-use property, Jericho, N.Y.-based Metropolitan Realty Associates and its New York City-based equity partner, Angelo Gordon & Co., have sold the two-building complex for $ 39,250,000 in what is the largest commercial sale on Long Island this year. The sellers reaped a big return on their investment.
The buyers are real estate investor David Werner and privately owned Carlton Associates Inc., both of New York City.
MRA and Angelo, Gordon acquired the 188,500-square-foot, two-building complex at 1000 Stewart Ave. and 500 Endo Blvd., in Garden City in 2005 for $ 7.4 million from Bristol Myers Squibb. After an extensive renovation the partnership leased it to such long-term tenants as Lifetime Brands Inc., a publicly traded manufacturer of kitchenware, and Nassau Community College.
The sale, which works out to $ 208 per square foot, is the result of an auction conducted last fall by Eastdil Secured, whose marketing team included Adam Spies, Adam Etra, Josh King and Michelle Mahl. The buyers represented themselves.
MRA and Angelo, Gordon acquired the 188,500-square-foot, two-building complex at 1000 Stewart Ave. and 500 Endo Blvd., in Garden City in 2005 for $ 7.4 million from Bristol Myers Squibb. After an extensive renovation the partnership leased it to such long-term tenants as Lifetime Brands Inc., a publicly traded manufacturer of kitchenware, and Nassau Community College.
“This sale concludes the hugely successful redevelopment of one of Long Islands most famous and architecturally significant commercial properties and provides us with an opportunity to return capital to our investors,” said Joseph Farkas, president of MRA. “This sale further proves the recovery of the real estate capital markets is underway and building momentum.
MRA and Angelo, Gordon bought the complex, designed by renowned 1960’s architect Paul Rudolph, in August 2005. Originally constructed as the headquarters of Endo Pharmaceuticals, the building was completed in 1964. MRA implemented a complete, award-winning renovation of the building that added windows, new building systems, parking and landscaping and was completed in January 2007.
Tenants in the 1000 Stewart Ave. building also include Angion Biomedica Corp. and Home Medical Equipment LLC. The 27,000-square-foot office building at 500 Endo Blvd. is leased to Nassau Community College.
The Business and Research Center at Garden City received the American Council of Engineering Companies 2007 Platinum award for Engineering Excellence, the Consulting Specifying Engineer National Award 2007 for Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering excellence for major retrofit projects and the Long Island Business News 2007 Real Estate Award for Top Mixed-Use Project on Long Island.
Described as a “Fortress for Pharmaceuticals” by architectural publications at the time it was completed in 1964, the campus is comprised of two buildings containing 188,500 square feet on 7.55 acres. The main building, a turreted, cast-in-place-concrete structure, received several awards for Rudolph’s bold design. The building ranks among the major projects designed by Rudolph, who was considered America’s most-talented Late Modernist architect. The second property, 500 Endo Boulevard is a freestanding, two-story, 27,000-square-foot building also designed by Rudolph and constructed several years later.
In 2005, the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency provided the building with a 10-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program that originally reduced property taxes at the complex to $ 2.37 per square foot, considerably below competitive properties in Nassau County. The tax rate increases on a graduated basis during the last seven years of the program.
The building is one of only a handful of works on Long Island designed by the well-known architect. After Endo’s sale in 1969 to E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. the building continued to be used until 2003 as a pharmaceutical plant by a succession of companies that included DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma.
In 2010, MRA and Angelo, Gordon acquired another Garden City property, the 335,000-square-foot office building at 711 Stewart Ave. Now called Garden City Square, the property is being transformed to mixed use, including 121,000 square feet to be occupied by BJs Wholesale Club.
About Metropolitan Realty Associates
Established in 2001 by veteran estate professional Joseph Farkas, Jericho, N.Y.-based Metropolitan Realty Associates LLC is a national real estate investment and development firm, owning more than 1 million square feet of office space on Long Island. MRA’s holdings include the Sunrise Business Center in Great River, N.Y., Garden City Square (711 Stewart Avenue) in Garden City, N.Y. and the Jericho Atrium in Jericho, N.Y. It also has important investments in development projects in New York City and recently purchased 15 East 26th in Manhattan. . For more information about Metropolitan Realty Associates visit http://www.metropolitanra.com.
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