Month: April 2016

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  • Month: April 2016

TALE OF TWO MARKETS

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Long Island’s industrial and office real estate markets seem to be heading in opposite directions, according to justreleased first quarter statistics.
A still tight supply of available properties has put a crimp in leasing activity in the area’s industrial market so far this year. There was about 512,000 square feet of industrial space leased in Nassau and Suffolk counties in the first quarter, as reported by Cushman & Wakefield. That’s only a little more than half the 988,000 square feet of industrial leasing activity recorded in Q1 2015.
The largest industrial lease of the first quarter was the 156,000 square feet at 201 Grumman Road West in Bethpage leased to Amazon for its first-ever Long Island warehouse and distribution center. But that deal represented nearly 31 percent of the total activity for the quarter as larger buildings with high ceilings are becoming harder to find.
“The limited supply is starting to reduce the volume of deals,” said Kyle Burkhardt of Cushman & Wakefield Long Island. The slowdown in activity put a damper on absorption. Overall net absorption of industrial space remained a positive 213,000 square feet, but was 17 percent lower than the 255,700 square feet absorbed in the first quarter a year ago. As for industrial property sales, those are down, too. In the first quarter of this year there was a paltry 121,400 square feet in sales to end users, a drop of 75 percent from the 484,000 square feet in end-user sales in Q1 2015.
“Sales should be way down because there’s no product,” said Jeffrey Schwartzberg of Premier Commercial Real Estate. “It’s not for lack of demand. There are plenty of customers out there.”
The demand for Long Island industrial space continues to be driven by end-users from New York City, especially those being displaced from Brooklyn and Queens, where investors and developers are scooping up properties for record prices.
“It’s a great time to be an owner,” Schwartzberg said while discussing the industrial market. “It’s tough to be a buyer or a tenant today.”
As a result, prices for industrial properties here have climbed and are now approaching prices for office properties, which have fallen in the last few quarters. While the customers for industrial properties are almost exclusively end users, the office market is driven by investors who aren’t seeing enough returns from stagnant rents.
“Office rents have remained stable over the last 20 years while operating expenses, real estate taxes and tenant build-out costs have all substantially increased,” said Brian Lee of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

“The net operating income has declined putting pressure on prices.”
There’s also a difference in demand, highlighted by the disparity in current vacancy rates–7.5 percent for industrial and 16.6 percent for office.
First quarter leasing activity for Long Island office at just over 75,000 square feet was off a whopping 81.5 percent from Q1 2015, according to Cushman & Wakefield numbers.
One bright spot for the office market is the area’s Class A vacancy rate, which has trended lower during the past year. Long Island’s Class A vacancy rate was 13.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, down significantly from the 16.2 percent vacancy rate of a year ago, according to JLL. However, in contrast to the lack of available industrial properties, there are plenty of office buildings for sale here.
“There are more office buildings coming on the market,” said Tom Attivissimo of Greiner-Maltz of Long Island. “And office prices are dropping to where the price per square foot is the same as for industrial.”
While acknowledging that the Island’s overall office market is somewhat challenged, broker Don Catalano of Optimize Realty is optimistic that an improving economy and higher employment are stabilizing factors.
“There are significant pockets of vacancy in Melville and in Hauppauge,” Catalano said, “but we expect that these will be absorbed over the next 12 to 18 months if conditions remain the same.”

2015 LONG ISLAND WINNERS

POWER BROKER AWARD WINNERS

Winners Presented alphabetically.

Top Leasing Firms

Ashlind Properties

Augenbaum Realty Corp.

CBRE

Coldwell Banker Commercial Island Corporate Svcs.

CPEX Real Estate

Cushman & Wakefield

Hunt Corporate Services, Inc.

JLL

Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates, Inc.

NAI Long Island

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

Premier Commercial Real Estate

Ripco Real Estate

Schacker Real Estate Corp.

Sholom & Zuckerbrot Realty, LLC

Top Sales Firms

Cushman & Wakefield

DY Realty Services, LLC

Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates, Inc.

Marcus & Millichap

Metro Management

Pinnacle Realty of New York, LLC

PKG Associates Inc.

TerraCRG

The Moshe Group

Weissman Realty Group, LLC

Top Office Leasing Brokers

Ralph C. Guiffre          CBRE

Philip M. Heilpern      CBRE

David G. Hunt             Hunt Corporate Services, Inc

John A. LaRuffa          NAI Long Island

Jason Miller             Premier Commercial Real Estate

Robert Seidenberg      CBRE

Kraig L. Silver              The Treeline Companies

 

TOP RETAIL LEASING BROKERS

Josh Augenbaum            Augenbaum Realty Corp

James Avallone                DJM Real Estate

Ryan Condren                  CPEX Real Estate

Simon Dallimore             Dallimore & Co.

George Danut                   CPEX Real Estate

Stuart Fagen                     Sabre Real Estate Group LLC

Daniel Glazer                    Ripco Real Estate

Jeffrey Howard                Ripco Real Estate

Theo Kontis                      Harvest International

Nicole S. Liebman           Cushman & Wakefield

Shawn Mullahy                MySpace NYC

Jerome J. Norton            Jenor Realty Co. Inc

Jason Richter                   DJM Real Estate

Peter B. Schubert            TerraCRG

Adam Stupak                    Task Realty

 

TOP INDUSTRIAL LEASING BROKERS

Felice Bassin                      Rentar Development Corp

Gary J. Chimeri                 Alliance Real Estate Corporation

Richard J. Cohen              Ashlind Properties

Leo Farrell                          Coldwell Banker Commercial Island Corporate Svcs

Daniel T. Gazzola               Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

David G. Hunt                    Hunt Corporate Services, Inc

Edward F. Pidgeon            Coldwell Banker Commercial Island Corporate Svcs

Brian Pinnola                      NAI Long Island

Fred Rufrano                       Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates, Inc

Peter B. Schubert                TerraCRG

Jeff Schwartzberg        Premier Commercial Real Estate

Philip Shwom                      Schacker Real Estate Corp

Jeff Star                                Schacker Real Estate Corp

Tom Tsiolis                          Long Island Industrial Group

Nick Zweig                           Locations Commercial Real Estate, Ltd

 

TOP SALES BROKERS

Michael Amirkhanian       Cushman & Wakefield

Ofer Cohen                          TerraCRG

Paul K. Gruber                    PKG Associates, Inc

Adam J. Hess                      TerraCRG

Brendan Maddigan            Cushman & Wakefield

Moshe Majeski                    The Moshe Group

Stephen Palmese                 Cushman & Wakefield

Shaun Riney                         Marcus & Millichap

Samuel Rottenberg             Metro Management

Mellissa Warren                  TerraCRG

 

INKED: RECENT LONG ISLAND REAL ESTATE DEALS

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745 Caleb’s Path, Hauppauge

Monaco Hu, a furniture company, purchased a 36,000-square-foot building on 2.5 acres at 745 Caleb’s Path in Hauppauge for $3.2 million. Richard Cohen of Ashlind Properties represented the buyer and the seller, Savoy Medical Supply, in the sales transaction.

1615 Ninth Ave., Bohemia

Ameristar Energy leased 1,700 square feet of office space at 1615 Ninth Ave. in Bohemia. Michael Zere of Zere Real Estate Services represented the tenant and the landlord, Gelsomnia LLC, in the lease transaction.

856 Johnson Ave., Ronkonkoma

Diamond Construction Group, a general contracting company specializing in kitchen and baths, leased 1,500 square feet of office space at 856 Johnson Ave. in Ronkonkoma. Michael Zere of Zere Real Estate Services represented the tenant and the landlord, Bruno LLC, in the lease transaction.

154 Toledo St., Farmingdale

Certus Controls, which specializes in building automation products, purchased a 6,400-square-foot flex building at 154 Toledo St. in Farmingdale for $1.09 million. Harris Rousso of Real Estate Strategies represented the buyer and Mario Asaro of Industry One Realty represented seller Tajon LLC in the sales transaction.

120 Fairchild Ave., Plainview

Nina Massini, a clothing distributor, leased 7,609 square feet at 120 Fairchild Ave. in Plainview. The company is relocating from Manhattan. Jeffrey Schwartzberg and Jason Miller of Premier Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant and the landlord, Adams Fairchild Realty, in the lease transaction.

20 Railroad St., Huntington Station

Super Sweep, a broom manufacturer, leased 25,000 square feet at 20 Railroad St. in Huntington Station. Jeffrey Schwartzberg and Jason Miller of Premier Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant and the landlord, RRA Associates of Huntington Station, in the lease negotiations.

80 Gordon Drive, Syosset

H&M USA, which distributes raw materials to nutraceutical companies, leased a 35,000-square-foot building at 80 Gordon Drive in Syosset. The company is relocating from Plainview. Ralph Perna of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the tenant and the landlord, Gordon Nassau Realty, in the lease transaction.

10 Technology Drive,  East Setauket

Eating Evolved leased 6,500 square feet of industrial space at 10 Technology Drive in East Setauket. Brian McGuire from Coldwell Banker Commercial Island Corporate Services represented the tenant and Eric Dorf was the in-house representative for landlord Dorf Associates in the lease negotiations.

144 Kroemer Ave., Riverhead

MJ Moving & Storage leased 5,000 square feet of industrial space at 144 Kroemer Ave. in Riverhead. Brian McGuire from Coldwell Banker Commercial Island Corporate Services represented the tenant, while Jake Watral was the in-house representative for landlord Kroemer Avenue Holdings in the lease transaction.

191 Montauk Highway, Sayville

Suffolk Federal Credit Union leased 2,030 square feet at 191 Montauk Highway in Sayville. The branch office is expected to open in late spring. Brian Wynne of Coldwell Banker Commercial Island Corporate Services represented the tenant and Melissa Naeder of Sabre Real Estate Group represented landlord Circle Court Holding in the lease transaction.

865 Waverly Ave., Holtsville

Harvest Bakeries, which makes muffins and cakes for wholesale and retail distribution, purchased a 24,000-square-foot building on 5 acres at 865 Waverly Ave. in Holtsville for $2.6 million. The company is relocating from Central Islip. Ralph Perna of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the buyer and seller, Landmark Realty Holtsville, in the deal.