Westchester County Business Journal ‘Boutique’ building for White Plains
‘Boutique’ building for White Plains
The Reckson division of SL Green Realty Corp. plans to spend about $5 million this year to reposition its recent purchase in downtown White Plains as a class A “boutique” office building.
Reckson paid $6.7 million for 150 Grand St., a seven-story, 105,000-square-foot building built in 1962. The Lightstone Group of Lakeview, N.J., was the previous owner.
New tenants in the building will share a parking lot with Reckson’s adjoining 140 Grand St. property. The 150 Grand St. building is being vacated by Westchester County government offices.
“The building will be available in its entirety with the exception of a small existing tenant,” said Al Gutierrez, vice president at CB Richard Ellis in Stamford, Conn., the building’s leasing agent.
“The building has been purchased by one of the premier landlords in Westchester County,” he said. “With this acquisition, SL Green is looking to reposition the property to create a true class A boutique environment.”
Gutierrez said capital improvements will create “a smaller, more intimate environment” for the smaller professional offices – including those of attorneys, accountants and physicians – that the owner hopes to attract. Improvements will include modernized elevator cabs and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, a new lobby and restrooms and, “most important of all,” Gutierrez said, a new building façade that the owner expects to unveil in about one week.
SL Green officials “are very anxious to get started and restore this building to class A level,” said Rick Matthews, company spokesman in Manhattan. “Currently it’s not. There’s some work to be done.”
Gutierrez said the repositioned property will be marketed for “the underserved tenants in the market that are looking for quality space in a great location at competitive pricing.” Asking rents will range from $29 to $32 per square foot, he said.
The broker said class A office buildings in downtown White Plains near the downtown Metro-North Railroad station rent for $38 to $42 per square foot. “We’re looking to position ourself as middle-of-the-road” with rents, he said.
Gutierrez said the capital improvements project should be completed by the first quarter or early second quarter of 2008, though tenants will start to occupy space before the project ends. “We’re looking forward to filling up the building in a very short period of time,” he said.
Medical center bought
The Mount Kisco Medical Center, a two-building, 38,800-square-foot complex that adjoins Northern Westchester Hospital, has been purchased by RREEF, an alternative investment management company that manages $89 billion in assets worldwide, on behalf of an unnamed institutional client.
Officials for the San Francisco-based company, part of Deutsche Bank’s asset management division, declined to disclose the purchase price. Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Tolchin Property Group, in the transaction.
The property was gutted and rehabilitated in 2002 and is fully leased, said RREEF spokeswoman Angela E. Goffrier.
Goffrier said RREEF began buying medical centers “in the last couple of years.” It owns two in Illinois and two in Colorado, she said. In addition to real estate, RREEF invests in infrastructure, public and private equity and hedge funds.
Goffrier said RREEF recently added a third office building, 210 W. 70th St., to its commercial portfolio in Manhattan, where it maintains a property-acquisitions office. It also owns Southpoint at Massapequa, a Long Island apartment community.
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