News
BIG BOX IN BROOKLYN
October 31, 2008
| The leasehold to a rare piece of property (and one of the best pit stops on the Belt) is up for grabs in Brooklyn—the 294k-SF, 100% occupied Ceasar's Bay Shopping Center, which has an additional30k SF expansion opportunity for a potential big box retailer. We went to CBRE offices at the MetLife Building to hear more from SVPsNed Midgley and Tim Sheehan, who are marketing the property on behalf of SALTRU Associates. |
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| Tim and Ned with associate Dan Kaplan, who's also working on the sales team along with assistance from vice chair Bill Shanahan and EVP Jeff Babikian. They tell us what makes the property so attractive is the fact that big box sites in Brooklyn are uncommon. The potential to build another 30k SF, two-floor store—the approximate size of a generic Best Buy—also creates the possibility for an extra $1.5M in annual net operating income. Not too shabby, considering the property is already debt-free and earns in excess of$8M. The sale price has not been disclosed, but the team estimates that a potential institutional or high-net investor would have to put down substantial equity based on today's debt markets. Bonus point: the site is located at the prime intersection of the Belt andBay Parkways, which makes the center quite visible to everyone stuck in Staten Island and Jersey-bound traffic. |
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| The tenant roster includes Kohl's, Toys “R†Us, Babies “R†Us,Best Buy and Modell's, among others. The property sits near one of most residentially dense areas of Brooklyn, whose 2.5M populationis already underserved by retail—consider that the national average is 21 SF of retail space per person, yet the borough averages only 15 SF per person. It baffles us why the seller would want to let go of the leasehold, but Ned tells us that the SALTRU partnership—who rescued the property from bankruptcy 27 years ago—believes that the time has come to realize the partnership's success. We'll take their word. In the meantime, you can find recreational runners Tim and Ned on the sidelines this weekend, cheering on CB colleagues competing in the ING New York City Marathon. |
