Westchester Avenue office building sells for $24 million

A 120,000-square-foot Purchase office building, 2975 Westchester Ave., has changed hands in a $24 million deal.

The buyer is 2975 Westchester LLC, an entity controlled by the Schur family of Greenwich. The seller is an affiliated company of Rye Brook-based RPW Group.

The deal was announced Aug. 8 by GHP Office Realty, an affiliate of Houlihan-Parnes Realtors. GHP Executive Vice President Jamie Schwartz was the sole broker of the deal and will serve as exclusive leasing agent for the new owner. GHP did not disclose the sale price, but a deed recorded with the county Aug. 2 shows the property changed hands for $24.1 million.

The five-story building is 85 percent leased, with 17 tenants, according to GHP. The property’s amenities include a full-service cafe, about 600 parking spaces and an on-site stop for the B-line bus shuttle to Metro-North train stations in Rye and White Plains.

The property was built in 1985 but received renovations to its lobby and common areas in 2016. RPW purchased the building in 2004 for $18.5 million, county property records show.

This is the second time an entity affiliated with the Schur family has purchased a Westchester County office property from Robert Weisz’s RPW Group. In 2015, RPW Group sold the Cross Westchester Office Center at 399 Knollwood Road in Greenburgh for $24.5 million. The buyer was an affiliated company of the 2975 Westchester purchaser.

Schwartz said in the announcement that the “off-market deal was made possible due to the relationships between all the parties involved in the transaction.”

Schur Management Co. Ltd. will manage the property, just as it manages 399 Knollwood. At the Knollwood building, Schwartz said, “a successful leasing and marketing program … in combination with the purchaser”™s capital investment and Schur Management”™s commitment to the tenants there, resulted in bringing occupancy up to 96 percent, from 85 percent when it was acquired. We intend to replicate that success with 2975 as well.”

Schwartz said the building’s proximity to restaurants, hotels and shopping in Rye Brook, Port Chester and Rye, as well as an improving office market along the I-287 corridor, made the property an attractive investment for the buyer.

The Schur family has been involved in real estate since the 1930s, GHP noted in the announcement. Members of two previous generations in the family built, owned and operated apartment buildings in the Bronx, many of which are still under the supervision of Schur Management.

For RPW, the sale comes three months after the company purchased a pair of buildings down the street at 925-1025 Westchester Ave. for $14.75 million. The company is one of the largest private holders of office space in the county.