How To Buy Into NYC Retail
Cohen Commercial Properties's suburban retail portfolio (2M SF in nine states) has stabilized post-recession, but with his children's inheritance in mind, CEO Andrew Cohen is beefing up staff at Manhattan HQ. (We snapped Andrew--who's speaking at Bisnow's Friday NY Retail Summit with Robert, Scott, and 10 others--in his 9 E 40th St office.) His wish, he tells us, is for his entire portfolio to be in the NYC tristate area. Sans a genie, how does he plan to build up in Manhattan?
He doesn't intend to be a pure net-lease player, but those properties have proved worthy NYC entry points, he tells us. He wants hard corner locations with high sales, low occupancy costs, and value-add via lease-up, rent increase potential, or redevelopment. Pretty much the dictionary definition of net lease. His first Manhattan buy was last summer: $3.4M for a 7,500 SF Citi branch (above) and air rights at 143rd and Adam Clayton Blvd. In December, he closed on a Citi branch in Queens, and he's got a Walgreens/Citi property on a Bronx corner with on-site parking under contract to close in three weeks. For bigger properties, he'll partner up. He's negotiating with a partner for a Manhattan property and looking with a partner at a FiDi property.
