Firm snaps up for-sale signs from sea to sea
A partnership of White Plains real estate firms recently purchased a portfolio of 16 commercial properties in eight states from Verizon Communications Inc. Three of the office properties are in Westchester County.
The buyer, GHP Office Purchasing L.L.C., is an equal partnership of GHP Office Realty and Benerofe Properties. Andrew M. Greenspan, a GHP principal, declined to disclose the purchase price.
GlobeSt.com, citing “local sources” in White Plains, reported the deal for about 1.7 million square feet of office and industrial space to be worth approximately $150 million.
The sale included Verizon”™s 400 Westchester Ave. and 500 Westchester Ave. office buildings in Harrison and its 10 County Center Road property in Greenburgh. A Verizon spokeswoman said the telecommunications company will lease back 500 Westchester Ave., its research and development site, and 10 County Center Road, which houses several Verizon units, including the local office for FIOS TV and Verizon”™s community relations office.
Greenspan said there are no prospective tenants for the vacant 400 Westchester Ave.
Since its formation in 1999 under the umbrella of Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors, GHP Office Realty has focused on acquiring and managing commercial properties ”“ more than 5 million square feet of space – in the tri-state suburban area. The Verizon deal marks a departure from the firm”™s stated mission to acquire only quality properties within a 75-mile radius of its White Plains headquarters. The purchase includes properties in California, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts and Texas.
While the purchase is an expansion for GHP, “for the other principals in the deal, it”™s not,” Greenspan said. Both Benerofe and Houlihan-Parnes have holdings nationwide, he noted. “It was a natural extension for GHP to have the capacities to buy the properties throughout the country,” he said.
Greenspan said GHP Office Realty will manage all the properties in partnership with the family-owned Benerofe firm.
“It”™s an opportunity for us to acquire numerous prime properties in the deal,” Greenspan said. “We were able to buy a number of well-located class A-type office buildings throughout the nation in excellent markets and in excellent real estate markets. It”™s what we do.”          GHP Office Realty was formed in November 1999 and is headed by and is s Andrew M. Greenspan, Ja
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