White Plains Plaza, a complex composed of two 15-story office buildings, is for sale. The property is being marketed by the real estate services firm Newmark. The buildings involved are at 1 N. Broadway and 445 Hamilton Ave.
The real estate firm Ivy Realty bought the property in 2015. Shortly after the purchase, Ivy announced that it had initiated a $30-million revitalization of the complex.
At that time, Ivy Realty CEO Anthony DiTommaso said “The activity we”™re seeing at White Plains Plaza is incredibly exciting. The improvements to the buildings have really helped with the leasing.”
Newmark did not list an asking price for the property.
In an October 2016 article on White Plains Plaza, the Business Journal reported that Ivy Realty had bought the buildings for about $80 million. The article said that a Texas-based loan servicer took over the property after its previous owner, Westport-based Heyman Properties LLC, defaulted on a mortgage loan. The Business Journal reported that Heyman in 2005 had bought the office complex for $60 million from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
The buildings have a total of 715,365 square feet and date from 1968. At the time it opened, White Plains Plaza made a splash as an important element in the revitalization of White Plains that was just beginning. The 1 N. Broadway building became a popular entertainment destination for Westchester residents because it housed a large United Artists movie theater. After the theater closed, the space was transformed into a fitness club complete with swimming pool.
The garage entrance of 1 N. Broadway, which includes a ramp coming up to street level, became a movie star, doubling as the exit from the printing plant of The Washington Post for Steven Spielberg’s 2017 movie “The Post,” which was largely shot in White Plains. In the movie, replicas of Washington Post newspaper delivery trucks were seen exiting the garage.
The property is being marketed by a team consisting of Newmark”™s Tri-State Capital Markets Executive Managing Director Kevin Welsh, Managing Director Brian Schulz, Divisional Head of International Capital Markets Alex Foshay along with Evan Layne and Brett Siegel who are co-heads of Newmark”™s New York Capital Markets Investment Sales Division. Executive Managing Director Glenn Walsh will act as the team”™s leasing market adviser.
“WPP offers investors an exceptional value-add opportunity and scale with a combination of long-term durable cash flow and near-term upside through pushing rents on the leasing of the available space as well as marking rents to market on renewals,” Walsh said. “As companies evaluate a shift to less dense locations, but near Manhattan, White Plains Plaza will be a major beneficiary of this trend.”
Newmark said that White Plains Plaza has 74 tenants and is 75% leased.
The property in the 1990’s was the home of Prodigy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_(online_service).