The buyer of the Boardy Barn in Hampton Bays remains a mystery, but the price the new owner paid for the iconic bar has been revealed.

Suffolk County deed transfers disclosed the purchase price on the property at 270 West Montauk Highway to be $4 million, Behind the Hedges reported. The 2.6-acre property in Hampton Bays was put up for sale about a year ago, but lacked a listing price ahead of the May transaction.

Beyond the price revelation, little is still known about who bought the property and what they plan to do with it. A buyer using the name Vozi Realty purchased the well-known establishment. The seller used the name Deja Vu All Over Again, which the late Yogi Berra would surely enjoy.

Boardy Barn opened its doors more than 50 years ago, and its ownership remained the same for more than a half-century.

When the property was put on the market last fall, the owners of the seasonal outpost said on its website that they were looking forward to the 2022 summer season. However, the property sold at the start of May and the bar never opened for the summer.

Business as usual is still a possibility for the bar, but redevelopment is also on the table. There’s 16,000 square feet of usable space, including a 4,000-square-foot main building and an area used for a tent and patio. The main building can fit 720 people sitting and more than double that standing.

JLL said in listing the property that investors would have an opportunity to redevelop, possibly taking advantage of the property’s zoning for highway business and features 270 feet of frontage on the thoroughfare.

The sale of the Boardy Barn marks the end of an era for the business, even if a bar remains in its place. Co-founder Tony Galgano died in November at the age of 78.

Article: https://therealdeal.com/2022/09/14/sales-price-revealed-for-iconic-hampton-bays-bar/

A national beverage distributor will be expanding at a planned warehouse project in Melville. 

Keurig Dr. Pepper has pre-leased an entire 103,500-square-foot warehouse that will be built on 8.18 acres at 125 Baylis Road. The company will be relocating from an adjacent building it’s been leasing at 135 Baylis Road. 

The new warehouse and distribution facility is being developed by Phoenix-based Creation Equity and assisted by J.P. Morgan. The developer purchased the 100,000-square-foot office building at 125 Baylis Road for $10.716 million in August 2021 and is currently securing approvals for redeveloping the site. 

The plan calls for demolishing the existing office building and replacing it with the new warehouse and distribution center, featuring 32-foot ceilings, 20 dock doors and two drive-in bays. The new building will have 96,900 square feet of warehouse space and 6,600 square feet of office space. 

Formed in 2018 with the merger of Keurig Green Mountain and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, publicly traded Keurig Dr. Pepper owns several well-known brands including Snapple, Canada Dry, 7 Up, Green Mountain Coffee, Mott’s, Hires Root Beer, and many more. The company, which employs nearly 27,000 people, reported net sales of $12.7 billion last year. 

Phil Heilpern of CBRE represented the tenant, while his CBRE colleague Paul Leone represented the landlord in the Melville lease transaction. 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/09/02/distributor-to-expand-at-new-103500-sf-melville-warehouse/

The massive Midway Crossing redevelopment is set to cross arenas off its list.

Engineer John Cameron said JLL would be willing to strike the two arenas from its $2.8 billion megaproject in Ronkonkoma, Newsday reported. Elected officials and Suffolk County residents opposed the venues because of traffic concerns.

Legislator Trish Bergin said lawmakers and JLL spent days in negotiations about scaling down Midway Crossing, ultimately compromising on an arena-free project. In a common refrain for people who oppose more traffic, critics had questioned the potential success of an indoor and outdoor arena, with Nassau Coliseum and the newly-minted UBS Arena already on Long Island.

An intermunicipal deal approved in December included a sports and entertainment center with a 5,000-seat outdoor stadium and 4,000-seat indoor arena. Both of those venues had already been scaled down several times. The indoor arena was initially expected to include 17,500 seats so it could lure an NHL team. Now, it appears there will be no arenas at all.

The Suffolk County Legislature committee unanimously passed two additional resolutions on Friday. One formally named JLL the master developer of the project, while the other formed a local development corporation to help raise financing.

The full legislature will vote Wednesday on those two measures.

The redevelopment project, at the site of the MacArthur Airport, has been in the works for several years. It will span 3.1 million square feet and take about 15 years to build.

Plans include a new terminal on the northern portion of the airport, a 190,000-square-foot convention center and 300-key hotel. There will also be an office complex with a life sciences center.

JLL was tapped to lead the project in 2018. Last year, Islip Town officially named the Chicago-based firm as the master developer of the airport project, but the rest of the project remained without an official lead.

Article: https://therealdeal.com/2022/09/06/ronkonkoma-mega-development-to-drop-arenas/

Fairfield Properties has added a mixed-use property in Huntington to its growing portfolio. 

The Melville-based landlord purchased a mixed-use building that has 20 apartments and 9,100 square feet of retail on .85 acres at 2 Union Place and 269 New York Ave. for $15.875 million. 

The fully occupied, three-story residential building at 2 Union Place has 18 two-bedroom and 2 one-bedroom apartments with average monthly rents of around $4,000. The 5,000-square-foot restaurant space on New York Avenue is leased to long-time tenant Albert’s Mandarin Gourmet. An F-45 Training studio and a medical equipment business occupy the other two retail spaces located on the ground floor of the apartments. 

Mark Walsh of Select Real Equity Advisors represented the buyer, while his Select Real Equity Advisors partner John Thomas represented the seller, 255 Hookshank LLC, in the sales transaction. 

“This was a very unique opportunity for the buyer to acquire a new luxury rental building in the heart of Huntington Village,” Walsh said. 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/08/31/fairfield-buys-huntington-mixed-use-property-for-15-875m/

Southdown Coffee will soon be opening a new location in Patchogue. 

The growing Long Island coffee chain leased a 2,126-square-foot retail space in the New Village mixed-use complex at 1 Village Green Way. 

The new Patchogue store will be Southdown Coffee’s first on the South Shore. The company, which specializes in premium coffee and handmade food, has other Long Island locations in Huntington, Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Northport and Port Jefferson. 

Completed in 2014 by Tritec Real Estate, the New Village mixed-use complex has hosted public outdoor concerts, farmers’ markets and festivals and is regarded as one of the centerpieces in the revitalization of Patchogue’s downtown. 

Maria Valanzano and Steven D’Orazio of Colliers International represented Southdown Coffee, as well as landlord Tritec, in the Patchogue lease transaction. 

“New Village helped provide an anchor to redevelop Patchogue and create a new sense of place for the village,” Valanzano said in a company statement. “The transformative project provided the energy that a community like Patchogue needs to keep moving forward. We were very pleased to find such an excellent location for Southdown Coffee’s first establishment on the South Shore.” 

Chris Kelly, vice president of marketing at Tritec said bringing in a tenant like Southdown Coffee will provide both New Village tenants and community members with a place to congregate.  

“Individuals will be able to grab a coffee, meet a friend for breakfast or catch up on some work while being footsteps away from all the town has to offer,” Kelly said in the statement. 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/08/25/southdown-coffee-expanding-to-patchogue/

The Community Development Corporation of Long Island is relocating its headquarters to Melville. 

CDCLI leased 23,500 square feet of office space at 1660 Walt Whitman Road. The organization will be moving from its long-time space at 2100 Middle Country Road in Centereach to its new Melville digs in March 2023. 

CDCLI also plans to have smaller branch locations in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. 

“As CDCLI continues to expand its team, customer base and impact; transitioning its headquarters to Melville further supports that growth,” Gwen O’Shea, CDCLI president and CEO, said in a written statement. “Melville provides greater accessibility for the vast customer base, team, board of directors and community partners. With a team of 100-plus individuals, CDCLI is looking forward to being an active member of Melville’s community and economic development.” 

Founded in 1969, CDCLI is a nonprofit organization that focuses on meeting the growing demand for affordable housing on Long Island. 

Ralph Benzakein of Cresa Long Island represented CDCLI, while Kyle Crennan and Joe Lopresti of JLL represented landlord Melville Corporate Park LLC in the lease transaction. 

“We worked diligently with the landlord and the JLL team and they were ultimately able to provide us with a package that will help make this CDCLI’s home for many years,” Benzakein said. 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/08/24/cdcli-relocating-its-headquarters-to-melville/

Local officials, business and community leaders joined developers last week to cut the ribbon on a new $15 million mixed-use project in Riverhead. 

Called The Shipyard, the four-story development from Huntington-based G2D Group, brings three studios, 10 one-bedroom and 23 two-bedroom apartments over 880 square feet of commercial space at 331 East Main St. 

Amenities at The Shipyard include a rooftop lounge, a business center and a fitness center. Conveniences for residents feature 24-hour video surveillance, private parking lot, and concierge services that include cleaning and dog walking. Some of the apartments also have balconies with views of the Peconic River. 

Monthly rents at the new Riverhead complex range from $2,500 to $5,800. Though it just opened last week, The Shipyard is already more than 50 percent leased. 

G2D, which has been active in downtown development throughout Long Island, is also planning to build a five-story, 37-unit luxury apartment building on a half-acre site at 205 Osborn Ave. in Riverhead. The property, which had a vacant, 10,000-square-foot medical office building on it, is located a block from the Riverhead Long Island Rail Road station and across the street from the Suffolk County Supreme Court building. 

Both projects are part of the ongoing revitalization of Riverhead’s downtown, which got a boost earlier this year with the award of a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant from New York State.

Article: https://libn.com/2022/08/22/15m-mixed-use-project-opens-in-riverhead/

The Bountiful Company, the Long Island-based vitamin and supplements firm formerly known as Nature’s Bounty, has sold its former Ronkonkoma headquarters. 

Rosemont, Ill.-based Venture One Real Estate purchased the 110,770-square-foot building on 9 acres at 2100 Smithtown Ave. 

The price was not disclosed, though real estate sources say the property traded for $16.2 million in the deal that closed earlier this month. 

Built in 1980 for industrial use, the vacant Smithtown Avenue property had been occupied by the vitamin maker for 24 years. The company, which was also formerly known as NBTY, purchased the property at the end of 1997 for $3.9 million, according to public records. 

Nature’s Bounty had converted the building for office use and the new owner is seeking to lease the property to an industrial or office tenant or tenants. The building, located across the street from the west side of MacArthur Airport, has 17-foot ceilings, three exterior dock doors and parking for 350 vehicles. 

Bountiful joins the growing list of Long Island companies shedding office space or seeking to trim their office footprints, as LIBN recently reported. The vitamin firm, which occupies several other Long Island properties, including facilities in Bayport, Bohemia, Holbrook and Ronkonkoma, declined to comment on the sale of its Smithtown Avenue property. 

Nestle Health Science acquired Bountiful’s major brands in a $5.75 billion deal last year, buying its Nature’s Bounty, Solgar, Osteo Bi-Flex and Puritan’s Pride brands. Those brands had sales of $1.87 billion the previous year, according to a report from Reuters. 

The purchase of the Ronkonkoma property is the fourth Long Island acquisition for Venture One in the last nine months. The company acquired an 85,000-square-foot industrial building on 9.7 acres at 2950 Veterans Memorial Highway in Bohemia in Nov. 2021 and a 90,000-square-foot office building on 7.4 acres at 49 Wireless Blvd. in Hauppauge in March. Venture One, which also has a regional office in East Rutherford, N.J., is investing $96 million to redevelop the Bohemia and Hauppauge properties into new warehouse and distribution facilities. 

Two months ago, Venture One purchased a 50,000-square-foot industrial building on 4.48 acres at 889 Waverly Ave. in Holtsville, which is leased to Fulfillment Plus and is not targeted for redevelopment. The company declined to comment on its Ronkonkoma acquisition. 

Paul Leone of CBRE represented the seller in the Smithtown Avenue sales transaction but declined to comment on the deal.

Article: https://libn.com/2022/08/18/vitamin-maker-sells-sprawling-ronkonkoma-complex/

The company conference may survive the age of remote work, after all.

Flex landlords who run short-term conference and events spaces say they’re seeing an increase in demand from companies that have ditched the office but still need a place to gather for occasional get-togethers and corporate events.

“People are booking these meeting rooms and bringing in their entire company, whether it’s once or twice a month,” said Juda Srour, co-founder of the flex landlord Jay Suites. “They gave up their office space and spent that money here.”

Jay Conference, a conference and events space division launched in 2018 by Jay Suites, recently signed a 40,000-square-foot lease near Bryant Park for the company’s fifth and largest location.

The space at Princeton International Properties’ 104 West 40th Street has seven rooms and a main room that can hold 600 people. The location had previously been occupied by Japanese venue-operator TKP’s New York conference center with a private entrance on 39th Street, which made it easier for Srour’s company to take over.

The future of New York’s central business district is still very much up in the air. Office occupancy across the city hit 40 percent in June for the first time since the pandemic, according to Kastle Systems.

Manhattan office leasing totaled 11.6 million square feet in the first half of the year, according to CBRE. That was up 83 percent from a year earlier, but 3 percent below the five-year average.

And those tenants that are leasing space are taking a longer time to do so. A tenant looking to lease 75,000 square feet or more took an average of 19 months to complete a deal — 14.5 percent longer than it took from 2017 to 2019, according to CBRE.

Events-space landlord Convene in July reopened a 20,000-square-foot location near Grand Central Terminal at 101 Park Avenue that had closed during the pandemic and underwent a renovation.

Phoenix Porcelli, Convene’s vice president of sales, said the company is looking to open new locations in its existing markets and expand to new ones after Hudson’s Bay Company and Ares Management took a majority stake in Convene in April at a $500 million valuation. (That figure was flat from Convene’s 2018 Series D funding round.)

Demand is up 133 percent from the same time last year, Porcelli said, and clients are booking space much closer to the date of their events. The average booking window is just shy of 30 days, compared to 67 days pre-pandemic.

“We’re seeing a higher frequency of smaller events booked in a much smaller window,” she said. “There’s still a reticence about booking longer in advance.”

Article: https://therealdeal.com/2022/08/17/back-to-meetings-spurs-demand-for-flex-space/

Discount grocery chain Lidl will be opening its new store in Commack at the end of the month. 

Lidl will hold a grand opening celebration at the 30,000-square-foot supermarket in the Mayfair Shopping Center at 210 East Jericho Turnpike on Wednesday, August 31. 

Lidl invested more than $7 million to transform the Commack location formerly occupied by Stein Mart, which closed in 2020 as part of the apparel retailer’s bankruptcy. The new store will employ more than 50 people, according to a company statement. 

The first 100 customers in line before the 7:40 a.m. ribbon cutting on August 31 will receive gift cards ranging from $5 to $100 each. Shoppers can also enter to win a $500 Lidl gift card, sample Lidl’s award-winning assortment and take advantage of special giveaways. 

In addition, from Wednesday, August 31 through Sunday, Sept. 4, Lidl will donate $1 to Long Island Cares for every new myLidl member who signs up and sets Lidl Commack as their home store. 

“On behalf of the Town of Smithtown, I am overjoyed to formally welcome our new neighbor, Lidl, to Commack on Jericho Turnpike,” Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said in the statement. “Throughout the pandemic, Lidl has opened over 15 stores on Long Island to serve residents, providing quality, affordable food at low, competitive prices. This latest store is a much needed and promising addition to the community, and I am grateful that Lidl has chosen Smithtown to call home.” 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/08/16/lidl-opening-new-commack-store-this-month/