GHP Office Realty LLC plans to invest $6 million in renovations at the former Taconic Corporate Park in Yorktown following its recent acquisition of the two-building, 209,000-square-foot property that is home to the northern Westchester campus of Mercy College.
The 26-acre property includes 2649 Strang Blvd., a three-story, 66,267-square-foot office and medical building, and 2651 Strang Blvd., a one-story, 142,811-square-foot building formerly occupied by Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The properties are 40 percent occupied, according to the Harrison-based buyer.
Facing foreclosure after defaulting on a $14.5 million mortgage, the previous owner of the Yorktown campus, Taconic Corporate Park LLC, in 2011 deeded the property to a special servicer for Bank of America.
GHP Office Realty Executive Vice President Jamie Schwartz declined to disclose the purchase price, citing a confidentiality agreement. The real estate news site Globest.com, citing an unnamed source, said GHP paid approximately $11 million. GHP, which will also manage and lease the property, took out an acquisition loan and credit facility totaling $13.2 million on the two buildings.
Health care tenants at 2649 Strang Blvd. include ENT & Allergy Associates, Hudson Valley Hematology, North Shore-LIJ Health System”™s Lenox Hill Heart and Vascular Institute, Northern Westchester County Dental, Hudson Valley Oral Surgery and Dialysis Clinic Inc. Schwartz said Mercy College”™s Yorktown campus occupies about 47,000 square feet of space at 2651 Strang Blvd., which was vacated by Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield several years ago.
Schwartz said the new owner plans to spend $6 million in renovations and energy efficiency improvements to the two buildings. Â “We have approximately 100,000 square feet of technology, medical or laboratory space at 2651 Strang Blvd. We believe this type of space is in short supply in Westchester County and are optimistic about our leasing prospects,” he said.
Schwartz said several other entities bid on the properties. “At the end of the day, the seller was very comfortable that we could close,” he said.
The GHP acquisition team was led by Andrew Greenspan, company principal; Michael Cinicolo, vice president of operations; Andrea Lofaro, director of administration; and associate Harrison Lyss.
“The unique nature of the product type made this deal attractive to GHP and its partners,” Greenspan said in a press release. “We are creating the only large block of Class A one-story technology, laboratory, medical or flex space in Westchester.”
Greenspan said the former Blue Cross/Blue Shield space at 2651 Strang Blvd. will be retrofitted to create individual units for corporate, hospital, computer or entrepreneurial companies.
