They are fiercely competitive but share in a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie. Many have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams but at the same time are committed to contributing their wealth and time to the community. These brokers - many of whom have weathered a number of economic cycles - are leading their 400 or so peers in adapting to the Island’s changing economic and real estate landscape.

Richard Cohen
Ashlind Properties

Richard Cohen, president of Hauppauge-based Ashlind Properties, got his start in commercial real estate in the late 1970s managing apartment complexes in the boroughs of New York City.

In 1982, he made the move to Long Island, working as a broker for the Lake Success-based real estate services firm Sutton & Edwards. Over the next eight years, Cohen focused on the industrial side of the coin and began establishing relationships that would eventually lead to breaking off on his own.

“I focused my efforts on the Hauppauge market,” he said, mainly in the Vanderbilt Industrial Park, which is now part of the assemblage of industrial parks that make up the Hauppauge Industrial Park, a 1,400 acre complex that is the l~rgest of its kind in the United States.

In 1990, Cohen formed Ashlind, a combination of his daughters’ names, Ashley and Lindsey.

With the assistance of Walter Gross, one of the developers of the Vanderbilt Industrial Park, and several clients including Meadowbrook Distributors, the Long Island distributors of Pepsi, his company began to grow.

That year, Cohen was involved in real estate deals with firms that included Meadowbrook, ELM Freight and American Tissue.

“Those deals put us on the map,” he said.

Since then, Cohen has been a fixture in the Hauppauge industrial market, and is more likely than not involved in any significant deal in the central Suffolk region.

Cohen has remained an independent in a market that is consolidating on a daily basis, with the smaller boutique firms being swallowed up by larger entities that are national, or international, in scope.

But Cohen continues on his own, asserting that the size of his company, essentially Cohen alone, allows him to offer personal customer service, resulting in repeat business with customers that include ELM Freight, Jasco Industries, Corwood Laboratories and New Breed Transportation.

“We’ve grown together with these companies,” he said.

Hauppauge, NY Ashlind Properties has completed 8 transactions totaling 261,890 s/f on Long Island.

Air Industries, a publicly traded company, doubling its Long Island footprint worked with Ashlind Properties to consummate a long-term sublease transaction for 81,000 s/f located at 110 Plant Ave., Hauppauge. (Rechler Equity owned building). The transaction involved a sublease from Huttig Building Products.

Ashlind Properties negotiated a three year lease extension for 54,890 s/f warehouse space for Display Presentation at 150 Engineers Rd., Hauppauge. (Rechler Equity owned building).

Ashlind Properties has completed a sales transaction for DiFazio Associates’ 20,000 s/f office/R&D facility located at 580 Old Willets Path, Hauppauge, to ASR Management & Technical Services. The facility will handle its growing Support Services throughout the world to Commercial Industry and Government Agencies.

Ashlind Properties negotiated a lease for 8,500 s/f located at 135 Fell Court, Hauppauge, for Source One Packaging, a rapidly growing company.

Ashlind Properties negotiated a lease for 30,000 s/f located at 35 Marcus Blvd., Hauppauge, for Display Presentation in its ever growing thirst for warehouse space.

In addition Ashlind Properties negotiated an additional 5,000 s/f rental for Corwood Labs at 35 Marcus Blvd.

Representing Gold Glass Group a manufacturer of automotive glass products Richard Cohen of Ashlind Properties consummated a lease for a new 45,000 s/f facility located at 545 Johnson Ave., Bohemia, N.Y. (Aerotech Industrial LLC property)

VAO Realty Inc. Investors also turned to Ashlind Properties for the sales transaction of its 17,500 s/f building at 75 Burt Dr., Deer Park, N.Y. to East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp.

Long Island’s largest aircraft parts company is really taking off.

In this year’s biggest lease deal so far, Air Industries Group is doubling its Long Island footprint, expanding into 80,000 square feet in Hauppauge.

Already headquartered in about 76,000 square feet in Bay Shore, the company needs more room, especially since it acquired three firms in the past year.

Air Industries bought Medford-based Blair Industries, a landing gear manufacturer, Sigma Metals of Deer Park and Welding Metallurgy of West Babylon, two firms that work with specialized metals for defense industries and technology.

Air Industries has signed a seven-year sublease at a building on Plant Avenue in Hauppauge, a building owned by Rechler Equity Partners and currently leased by Huttig Building Products, according to Rich Cohen of Ashlind Properties in Hauppauge, who represented Air Industries in the deal. Bill and Dean Greiner of Greiner Maltz in Plainview represented Huttig.

“They afforded themselves a very attractive building at a big discount to the market,” Cohen said, adding that the lease was negotiated at a couple of dollars below the going rate of the area’s industrial property.

About 220 people work at Air Industries, a publicly traded company founded in 1969 with annual revenue of about $20 million. The company boasts Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin as customers. Air Industries’ handiwork includes precision components for Blackhawk helicopters, rocket launching systems for the F-22 Raptor Advanced Stealth Fighter, and gear for the Navy’s E-2C Hawkeye radar plane.

Huttig, a Missouri-based distributor of millwork, building materials and wood products, announced the closing of its Hauppauge distribution facility in February as part of the company’s effort to downsize in light of the recent downturn in the housing market.

“They came in, but they couldn’t compete,” Cohen said about Huttig. Cohen also said this looks like a trend for 2008, where housing-related companies may look to shed space. That will provide opportunities for other companies in faster-growing industries to take their place, Cohen added.

He also said business at the Island’s industrial parks, especially in Hauppauge, should be brisk as demand for space from the technology and defense sectors continue.

HAUPPAUGE, NY - Ashlind Properties has brokered six transactions totaling 297,146 s/f throughout Long Island. Bearings Ltd. represented by Richard Cohen of Ashlind Properties negotiated a sale with H & A Realty LLC for a 140,000 s/f industrial facility on 7.1 acres located at 2100 Pacific St., Hauppauge, N.Y. The seller representative was Sutton & Edwards.

Bearings Ltd. had been looking and submitting offers for buildings located in Hauppauge, NY area for the past four years. The building they required had to have character, presence and physical characteristics of high ceilings and multiple docks. The building had to be larger than 100,000 s/f to accomodate their expansion needs.

IVCI, LLC also turned to Ashlind Properties in its purchase of a 26,571 s/f industrial building on 3.1 acres located at 601 Old Willets Path, Hauppauge, N.Y. The seller was 601 WP Realty, LLC.

IVCI is in the business of video conferencing and collaboration technologies and has a large design staff and network integration department, therefore, 601 Old Willets Path with its extra acreage was one of the few buildings able to accommodate their heavy parking needs.

In the third transaction, Ashlind Properties represented Unlimited Screw Products Inc. in its purchase of 15,300 s/f industrial building on 1.2 acres located at 87 East Jefryn Blvd., Deer Park, N.Y. The seller was Garbus Properties, Inc. The seller representative was Sutton & Edwards.

In the fourth transaction, Ashlind Properties completed a sales transaction for the 37,275 s/f Premier Store Fixtures manufacturing facility located at 245 Marcus Blvd., Hauppauge, NY to Josh Packaging, in its ever growing company for additional space.

Josh packaging being in a strong growth mode has been looking over the last three years for a suitable building with high ceilings and heavy power. They found that facility at 245 Marcus Blvd. in a great corner location.

In the fifth transaction, Ashlind Properties completed a sales transaction for 80 Modular Realty, Inc., a 20,000 s/f manufacturing facility located at 80 Modular Ave., Commack, N.Y. to East Coast Filter Sales & Service, Inc.

In the last transaction, Ashlind Properties completed a sales transaction for Gilbert D. Jackson LLC, a 58,000 s/f manufacturing facility on 5.5 acres located at 355 County Rd. 101, Yaphank, N.Y. to Hi-Temp Specialty Metals, Inc. The buyer representative was Richard Cohen, Ashlind Properties and John Trapani. The seller representative was Corporate Realty Services, LLC.

Condemnation may clear final obstacle in Riverhead

After long and fruitless negotiations, Apollo Real Estate Advisors has asked the Town of Riverhead to condemn the property needed to complete its downtown revitalization plan.

According to Don Secunda, an attorney with the Weber Law Group in Melville, which represents Apollo, a letter was sent to Supervisor Phil Cardinale and the Riverhead Town Board asking for help to acquire the parcels on the south side of Main Street. Apollo sent the letter after they were unable to reach a deal for the land.

The property on the south side has been appraised by the town at $9.5 million, but the owner of most of it, Riverhead Enterprises, has been asking twice that amount, according to Cardinale.

Apollo went as far as to offer a share of the profits of future development to the reluctant owner, according to Secunda.

“We’re at our wits end,” the attorney said.

Regardless of what happens with the south side properties, Apollo is going ahead with plans on the north side of Main Street. Secunda said that a draft environmental impact statement on the north-side work would be prepared by the town next month.

The entire plan calls for over $500 million in mixed-use development for the downtown area, including offices, stores and apartments. Apollo’s master developer status allows the company to seek relief through town condemnation if the property can’t be acquired through negotiations with the owners.

Downtowns are tight

Speaking to me at the Damianos holiday soiree, John Finn discussed a space problem shared by many Long Island business districts.

The company’s head of leasing and acquisitions said that the space to hold small businesses along the Main Streets of Nassau and Suffolk have reached “critical mass.”

“These structures met the demand from 30 and 40 years ago,” Finn said. As a result, shopping centers with roomier stores that “meet today’s business model” are attracting more quality retail tenants than the cramped, older buildings downtown.

The fix? Creative planning, Finn said.

Or loosen up zoning, like Cliff Sondack, president of the Land Use Institute, wants to do.

“Creative planning may best be achieved by simply broadening the permitted uses and density to allow the free market to work its creativity,” Sondack said. “Once downtowns are able to improve infrastructure and to grow in density, Main Street retail will improve.”

Kings Park help wanted

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is looking for a professional environmental engineering firm to submit a plan and cost estimate to clean up 320 acres of the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

The parks department has issued a request for qualifications for the site remediation on the New York State Contract Reporter Web site.

The property has more than 50 abandoned buildings that will require cleanup of asbestos and lead paint, demolition and treatment of buried construction material and more.

Any plans for the park will have to wait until the property can be cleaned up, according to Parks Commissioner Carol Ash.

Arbor days

Who says money is tight? Not Arbor Commercial Mortgage.

The Uniondale-based real estate lender has closed on over $28 million in loans in the last week. The funding goes towards apartment complexes in Michigan, Ohio and Georgia, as well as a 10-unit building across from Washington Park in Manhattan.

All in all, the properties funded contain more than 1,000 apartments. Michael Jehle, Arbor’s Midwest regional director, originated most of the loans.

Real Deals

· Bearings Ltd. was represented by Richard Cohen of Ashlind Properties in Hauppauge when the company bought a 140,000-square-foot building on 7.1 acres at 2,100 Pacific St. in Hauppauge. The seller, H & A Realty, was represented by Sutton & Edwards.

· IVCI, a videoconferencing technology company, bought a 26,571-square-foot building on 3.10 acres at 601 Old Willets Path in Hauppauge. Richard J. Cohen of Ashlind Properties in Hauppauge represented the buyer, IVCI, and the seller, 601 WP Realty.

· Cohen also handled both sides of the sale of 245 Marcus Ave. in Hauppauge. The 37,275-square-foot manufacturing facility was sold by Premier Store Fixtures, and bought by Josh Packaging.

· Cohen also represented Unlimited Screw Products in its purchase of a 15,300-square-foot building located at 87 East Jefryn Blvd. in Deer Park. The seller, Garbus Properties, was represented by Sutton & Edwards.

A company that helps fill Island lawns with seasonal wares such as scarecrows has more than doubled its space.

Andrea Baskets, an importer of wicker baskets and seasonal products, relocated from two buildings totaling about 25,000 square feet in the Hauppauge Industrial Park to 57,590 square feet at 1401 Lakeland Ave. in Bohemia.

The new digs, which the company is buying, give the growing firm access to a trio of main Island arteries and Long Island MacArthur Airport.

The company, which has more than 40 employees, also has enough space to include a 7,000-square-foot showroom, where customers can shop by the season.

Thanks to diverse clients, sales at the two-decade old company are growing about 20 percent each year.

“We’re hitting every venue between the chain stores, the mom and pops, the garden centers,” said Jerrah Lieberman, a vice president at Andrea Baskets.

Marie Zere, president of Zere Real Estate Services Inc., worked for the property while Richie Cohen of Ashlind Properties represented Andrea Baskets.

He Knows What’s Important In Helping People Solve Their Real Estate Challenges

Cohen, principal broker of Ashlind Properties: One of Long Island’s hardest working brokers

HAUPPAUGE, NY. - Ask Richie Cohen how he has repeatedly achieved success and he will tell you the answer is the same now as it was 24 years ago - Click to view a PDF of entire article

The former A.W. Sperry Industries Inc. plant in Hauppauge is getting a second act.

Premier Store Fixtures - whose clients include American Eagle Outfitters, Nike Inc. and Bank of America - took 37,275 square feet at 245 Marcus Ave. in Hauppauge.

Extensive renovations are under way.

Premier Store Fixtures owner Nelson Goodman paid $3.25 million for the building on 2.5 acres. The company, which also has its 55,000-square-foot headquarters on Emjay Boulevard in Brentwood, purchased the facility from J&L Realty, owned by former Sperry principals.

Sperry vacated the site in June after being acquired in late 2004 by Milwaukee-based Actuant Corp.

“It was a great building, great location, one of the last of the larger buildings that were on the market,” said Sutton & Edwards Inc./TCN Worldwide senior director Jeffrey Schwartzberg, who represented the property owner.

Richie Cohen of Ashlind Properties represented Premier Store Fixtures and sold them the Emjay Boulevard site a few years ago, he said.

“They’re growing by leaps and bounds,” Cohen said. “Everything they touch is top notch.”

In a separate deal, Cohen helped International Warehousing Solutions, a public warehouse operator, lease 23,000 square feet at 20 Melville Park Road in Melville for seven years.

The 67,000-square-foot building’s lower office section was leased by G3 Worldwide Inc., a consortium of international postal services, which took 44,000 square feet, according to Cohen.

Rechler Equity Partners is the landlord.

HAUPPAUGE - An environmentally contaminated building site snubbed by many in the real estate community has finally found a tenant.

USA Family Outlet Inc., a company that packs and pre-tickets underwear and bras, inked a deal for the 25,000-square-foot building at 100 Oser Ave. and its 57,000-square-foot neighbor, 110 Oser Ave.

In the ’70s and ’80s, a textile manufacturer that dry cleaned finished products allegedly contaminated 100 Oser Ave. with a common dry-cleaning chemical. While that ended two decades ago, the cleanup will continue for several years.

“It just works for me. I’m not worried about the dirt and what’s in the ground. They wouldn’t let us rent the building if the building isn’t safe,” said company owner Ira Goldman, who splits more than 25 employees between the two structures. “I don’t glow in the dark. It’s not contaminated as far as I’m concerned. No one has gotten sick here.”

110 Oser Ave. has been tested and has no problems, said Jeff Schwartzberg, the Sutton & Edwards Inc./TCN Worldwide senior director who spent much of 2005 with colleague Ted Trias working to fill the duo.

But “both properties had a black cloud over them because they were sort of known as the properties that needed environmental cleanup,” he said. “A lot of brokers wouldn’t even bring people to them.”

Perhaps that’s because a February 2005 report by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Environmental Remediation described 100 Oser Ave.’s contamination as “a significant threat to human health associated with potential exposure to contaminants in soil vapor, sediments, surface and water.”

The state department, which proposed long-term monitoring of the groundwater, indoor air and surface water, did not return two calls for comment.

James Rigano, a partner at law firm Certilman, Balin, Adler & Hyman LLP in Hauppauge, has represented property owner Anwar Chitayat for several years. Rigano said the state’s stern wording is used to describe thousands of properties across New York, including many that are occupied.

At 100 Oser Ave., extensive air testing over several years has shown the indoor air levels are below state guidelines, said Rigano, who concentrates in environmental law. The building also taps public water, which undergoes stringent testing.

According to the state report, 100 Oser Ave. was built by Vanderbilt Associates, which leased the 2.5-acre parcel to Sands Textile Corp. From the mid ’70s until 1985, Sands used tetrachloroethene, or PCE, which allegedly discharged into the site. Anecdotal evidence, according to the state report, indicates used PCE was disposed in the roof drain cleanouts and open floor pits and permeated the property. Above-ground storage tanks may also have leaked the colorless liquid that can ultimately cause cancer.

Chitayat purchased the site in 1985 to expand his business from 110 Oser Ave., the report says. Chitayat agreed to reimburse the state for the investigation and remediation - even though he didn’t cause the problem, Rigano said.

Sutton & Edwards’ Schwartzberg said Chitayat’s company, Anorad Corp., which made equipment used in computer manufacturing, was sold in late 1998 and the operation later was relocated to Brookhaven, leaving the two Oser Avenue buildings empty.

Late last year, Goldman, who founded USA Family Outlet as a Farmingdale retail store in 1988, signed to stay in 100 Oser Ave. for 18 months and 110 Oser Ave. for five years.

Ashlind Properties’ Richie Cohen, who represented the tenant, said USA Family Outlet is an ideal tenant because it is not working with hazardous materials, machines with oils or food products.

“He’s a practical guy in a practical situation,” said Cohen.

Pharmaceutical giant LNK International signed a 106,000-sf industrial lease at 2004 Orville Drive North in Bohemia, Suffolk County. LNK plans to relocate its operations, currently at 60 Arkay Drive in Hauppauge, to the Rechler Equity Partners-owned property. LNK was represented by Richie Cohen of Ashlind Properties in the lease negotiations with Harry Stavro of Rechler Equity Partners, who acted on behalf of the ownership.