In what would be the largest real estate purchase to date this year in Westchester County, Sloan Kettering Institute neared an agreement to buy a former Verizon Communications Inc. facility at 500 Westchester Ave. in Harrison, contingent upon securing final approvals from town officials.
Sloan Kettering”™s interest in expanding to Westchester County has been rumored for weeks, but the New York City medical center had yet to publicly confirm plans. A hospital spokeswoman said she could not immediately comment.
Through an affiliation with Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, Memorial Sloan Cancer Center maintains an oncology clinic in Sleepy Hollow, and also has satellite facilities on Long Island and in Basking Ridge, N.J.
Verizon Communications Inc. sold the building in 2007 to an affiliate of White Plains-based GHP Office Realty, along with an adjacent building at 400 Westchester Ave. As of June 23, GHP did not list the 120,000-square-foot property as available for lease or purchase on its Web site. Rick Rakow, the White Plains-based owner of Rakow Commercial Realty Group Inc. which had listed the property on his company”™s site, said he could not comment on the building”™s status.
To date this year in Westchester County, the only significant real estate transaction has been Diversified Investment Advisors agreement to take 115,000 square feet of space at 440 Mamaroneck Ave. in Harrison.
In contrast to New York City and some other suburban areas, availability rates in Westchester County held steady between the first and second quarters at just over 17 percent.
Only 110,000 square feet of space came available on a net basis in the second quarter, according to commercial broker CB Richard Ellis, compared to 260,000 square feet in the first quarter. Westchester County landlords”™ asking rents dropped from nearly $29 a square foot on average to just over $27.
By comparison, in neighboring Fairfield County, Conn., more than 600,000 square feet of space became available on a net basis in the second quarter, pushing the availability rate for vacant office space to nearly 20 percent of the overall market.
“There is a flight to quality under way,” said William Cuddy Jr., executive vice president in CB Richard Ellis”™ Stamford office. “The owners that have made ongoing investments in their real estate and maintained good relations with their tenants ”“ they”™ll excel. The owners that have overbought, over-financed and underserved their tenants will face increasing vacancies and some serious issues.”
”“ John Golden contributed to this report.
