Ashlind brokers 536,000 SF in first half

Hauppauge-based Ashlind Properties reports it sold or leased 536,000 square feet of industrial space in the first half of 2009.

The first half included five sales totaling more than 104,000 square feet and six leases with totaling 400,000 square feet, according to Ashlind owner Richard Cohen.
First half leases in Hauppauge included 120,000 square feet at 900 Grand Blvd. subleased to Rubie’s Costume; 34,120 square feet at 1818 Pacific St. subleased to Fusion Auto Finance; 25,080 square feet at 100 Oser Ave. leased to Precare Corp.; and 46,000 square feet at LNK International at 60 Oser Ave.

Ashlind’s sales included a 31,500 square-foot building at 160 Oser Ave. in Hauppauge that Jerome Stevens Pharmaceuticals bought from Vincenza Properties for $3.75 million; a 20,000 square-foot building at 380 Rabro Dr. in Hauppauge that Reliance Communications bought from CP Industries for $1.9 million; and a 20,000 square-foot building at 195 Oser Ave. in Hauppauge that investor Kyu Teck Chung bought from Omega Displays for $2 million.

Cohen said that prices for Long Island industrial properties are down by nearly 30 percent from a year ago, but the market appears to have bottomed.

Richard Cohen
Real Estate Broker

Richard J. Cohen, founder and principal of Hauppauge-based real estate firm Ashlind Properties, has received a 2008 Power Broker Award from real estate data provider CoStar Group, Inc. Cohen, who founded Ashlind Properties in 1990, said the firm completed deals in 2008 totaling about one million square feet – including the sale of 23 acres in Yaphank to Global Tissue Group and a 90,000-square-foot building in Bohemia to CMB Wireless Group. He is a resident of Hewlett Harbor.

Richard Cohen
Principal
Ashlind Properties

The founder of this Hauppauge-based firm, Cohen recently received a CoStar Power Broker Award, which recognizes top commercial real estate brokers. He founded Ashlind nearly 20 years ago, but received the award for being a top industrial leasing broker for 2008. Ashlind last year completed deals totaling about 1 million square feet, including the sale to Global Tissue of 23 acres in Yaphank for a 180,000-sqaure-foot plant and warehouse, and the purchase by CMB Wireless of a 90,000-square-foot building in Bohemia. Ashlind Properties’ clients include Corwood Laboratories, LNK International, P.C. Richard & Sons, Elm Global Logistics and Broadridge Financial.

Hauppauge-based Ashlind Properties has subleased 40,000 square feet to Able Rigging Contractors in Deer Park.
Ashlind principal Rich Cohen and Michael Landsman represented Able. Cohen also represented Island Swimming Sales, which subleased the space.
CP Industries sold a 20,000 square-foot building on 1.41 acres at 380 Rabro Drive Hauppauge to wireless wholesaler Reliance Communications for about $1.9 million.
Ashlind’s Cohen represented both buyer and seller in the sale. Cohen also negotiated a lease back of 5,000 square feet to CP Industries.

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 largest 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.