New Building Projects in Long Island

April 17, 2007
Offices, apartments, hotels planned or rising on Long Island

68 South Service Road

(RexCorp Executive Park)

Melville

Size: 300,000 square feet

Cost: Not disclosed

Developer: RexCorp

Architect: RexCorp

Melville-based RexCorp - formerly Reckson Associates Realty Corp. - was pleased enough with its building at 58 South Service Road in Melville to build a twin at 68 South Service Road.

In January 2006, the firm completed a four-story building with 277,000-square-feet of office space and an additional 23,000 square feet including a fitness center, a 145-seat auditorium, a café and conference rooms. The building completed the firm's executive park, located between exits 48 and 49 of the Long Island Expressway.

The firm broke ground on the second building in September 2004 after completing the first structure in 2001. The first building attracted tenants such as Smith Barney, Zurich Insurance Co., Signature Bank and Hain Celestial; the bait of the second building was attractive enough to also hook some big fish. Comtech leased some space, and when Citibank leased 202,000 square feet, the building became an instant billboard for success.

102 Motor Parkway

Hauppauge

Size: 204,000 square feet

Cost: $25 million

Developer: TriTec

Architect: Baldassano Architecture

You're not seeing double if you drive along Motor Parkway in Hauppauge. Or rather, you are: Tritec Real Estate Co. is building the second of its twin buildings there.

In 2006, Tritec started construction of the 204,000-square-foot 102 Motor Parkway on a 19.6-acre site already hosting a twin at 100 Motor Parkway. The twin, six-story building project was designed by Ronkonkama-based Baldassano Architecture and Mojo Stummer Associates, and sports a glass façade facing the Long Island Expressway.

Baldassano principal Philip Monastero said the firm aligned the buildings' façades specifically to have "a presence on the LIE. "

Both buildings include a central staircase and a three-story atrium as well as high-end materials and finishes. The buildings also have large flexible floor planes close to 35,000 square feet, which can be appealing to large as well as smaller firms.

The first building has already attracted tenants such as Allstate Insurance Co., First Empire Securities, Bank of Smithtown, Countrywide and Robert Half International.

1001 Franklin Ave.

Garden City

Size: 115,000 square feet

Cost: $25 million

Developer: Albanese Organization and Castagna Realty

Architect: Bentel & Bentel

Franklin Avenue is making a comeback, with a little help from two Long Island-based firms.

In April 2006, Garden City-based Albanese Organization and Castagna Realty finished this three-story, 115,000-square-foot, $25 million project. The structure was designed by Locust Valley-based Bentel & Bentel; Manhattan-based Angelo Corva & Associates oversaw the construction.

Billed by Albanese as a "green" commercial building, it sports many environmentally conscious features, including energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and a state-of-the-art air filtration system.

The building is the sixth such project spearheaded by Albanese and Castagna along Franklin Avenue, where the firms have played a major role in revitalizing and retooling area structures.

The Arches at Deer Park

Deer Park

Size: 805,000 square feet

Cost: $200 million

Developer: Blumenfeld Development with Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. and Apollo Real Estate Advisors

Architect: Adams & Associates

Deer Park may not have a vibrant downtown, but it's about to get a development that may be just as good.

Syosset-based Blumenfeld Development and partners, in late 2006, began demolition of an old 750,000-square-foot industrial building once occupied by Edo Corp. In its place, Blumenfeld is working with Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. and Apollo Real Estate Advisors on The Arches at Deer Park, a 180-store, 800,000-square-foot mixture of outlets and full-price retailers, along with restaurants and a movie theater. The shopping center could open by Memorial Day 2008.

The design of what would be Long Island's second Tanger outlet mall was done by Mooresville, N.C.-based Adams & Associates. The total price for the project, set on 81 acres, is estimated at $200 million.

Blumenfeld Development Vice President David Blumenfeld said the center's designed to be a place to shop, but also to spend time. "Because of the location, we feel we needed some amenities to serve the surrounding community," he said. "This will create a gathering point, a place for people to go. "

In addition to a 16-screen movie theater, a fountain and a bandstand, the Arches is slated to include what Blumenfeld called a "Rockefeller-type skating rink. " Already signed on are major-league retailers such as Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, the Children's Place, Nike, Adidas and Disney, among others.

Avalon Glen Cove (North)

Glen Cove

Size: 111 units

Cost: $42.4 million

Developer: AvalonBay Communities

Architect: EDI Architecture

In 2003, Alexandria, Va.-based AvalonBay Communities Inc. finished phase I of Avalon Glen Cove, a 256-unit development. It's now moving ahead with Phase II, an 111-unit, five-story building known as Avalon Glen Cove North.

Located on Glen Street, this apartment building (with its own parking garage) is in the heart of downtown Glen Cove. Construction is slated to finish later this year.

Matthew Whalen, vice present of development for Avalon, said the 75-unit-per acre building is designed to work well downtown. "Everybody on Long Island is scared of density," Whalen said. "We're not proposing 75 units per acre everywhere. "

Located a quarter mile from a Long Island Raid Road station, the building caters primarily to young residents and senior citizens. "They're full of Long Islanders who needed places to live," Whalen said.

The project includes a heated pool, fitness center, club lounge, study room for residents and a cyber café.

Avalon Pines

Coram

Size: 450 units

Cost: $79.8 million

Developer: AvalonBay Communities

Architect: Niles Bolton Associates

It took nearly a decade, but now it's done.

Alexandria, Va.-based AvalonBay Communities took the first steps toward developing Avalon Pines in 1998. In 2006, the developer finished the project, which covers more than 200 acres and includes an 18-hole public golf course named Pine Ridge.

A luxury rental community, Avalon includes 450 apartment homes located near the intersection of Routes 112 and 83. In addition to 40 acres of residential housing and the 110-acre golf course, the development includes 50 acres of parkland.

Matthew Whalen, vice present of development for AvalonBay (with Long Island offices in Melville), said the development caters to both senior citizens and young people. "We're really fitting the housing need on Long Island," he said.

Whalen said almost half of the development's residents are under age 35 and more than 20 percent are senior citizens.

After working its way through zoning minefields from 1998 to 2002, the project spent a year-plus wending its way through the Brookhaven Town approval process.

"It was lot of civic outreach, a lot of public meetings," Whalen said.

Once construction started in 2004, the development took a little more than two years to complete. It is AvalonBay's sixth Long Island community.

The Business and Research Center

1000 Stewart Ave.,

Garden City

Size: 186,500 square feet

Cost: Not disclosed

Developer: Metropolitan Realty Associates and

Angelo Gordon & Co.

Architect: EGA Associates

Joe Farkas, president of Metropolitan Realty Associates in Garden City, began with a vision. Now he's found others who share it.

Farkas, along with Angelo, Gordon & Co., acquired the $7.39 million Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma buildings in Garden City in Augist 2005. Since then, they've turned the complex - now known as the Business and Research Center at Garden City - into a model of reuse.

Farkas gutted the structures, including separate buildings of 161,500 square feet and 25,000 square feet. Whatever he did, it worked; Lifetim Brands quickly scooped up about 140,000 square feet to serve as its global headquarters.

"I bought it because I recognized the value of the location," Farkas said. "The building was unique. "

Farkas said proximity to the Meadowbrook Parkway and Stewart Avenue are selling points, while his ability to negotiate tax benefits with the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency didn't hurt.

"It's a good situation for everybody," he said of Lifetime's arrival. "Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead kept an important tenant. The building lived up to its potential. "

The center, whose tenants also include Home Medical Equipment and Angion Biomedica, is "filling a void in a sector that doesn't have much competition," Farkas added.

The Hampton Inn

Garden City

Size: 143 rooms

Cost: Not disclosed

Developer: OTO Development

Architect: STV Inc.

This 143-room hotel property, owned by Spartanburg, S.C.-based OTO Development, opened in October 2006, part of a wave of limited-service hotels washing over Long Island.

But many of these limited-service properties opened in Suffolk. This is in Nassau.

OTO was launched in 2004 by veteran hoteliers Wayne Huizenga and George D. Johnson Jr., founder and former CEO of Extended Stay America. The firm's goal is to "build premier select-service and extended-stay hotels in certain high-barrier to entry U.S. markets," such as Long Island. Among its well-known properties are Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn and Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Residence Inn, Courtyard and Springhill Suites. OTO has already lined up 33 hotel license agreements for hotels worth more than $500 million.

La Quinta

Bohemia

Size: 132 rooms

Cost: $10 million

Developer: Applecare Hotels/La Quinta

Architect: Baldassano Architectural Group

LaQuinta Inn & Suites - a 132-room, four-story, limited-services hotel complete with meeting rooms, a spa, and exercise facilities - opened in 2006. Hauppauge-based Tritec Building Co. constructed the 70,000-square-foot hotel, while Baldassano Architectural Group served as architect.

The first LaQuinta Inn & Suites on Long Island, this also becomes the latest hotel to open near Long Island MacArthur Airport. Applecore Hotels developed the hotel, now owned and run by La Quinta itself.

The building has a panelized wood-frame structure with a facade of EFIS and brick. It's also connected to an on-site, 15,000-GPD sewage treatment facility, built by Tritec.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center

New Hyde Park

Size: multiple projects

Cost: $104 million

Developer: North Shore-LIJ

Architect: Ewing Cole, Swanke Hayden Connell

It's been a busy year at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and not just in the emergency room.

LIJ Medical Center, in a few months, plans to finish a $27.5-million surgical and cardiothoracic intensive care unit, complete with 40 new ICU beds in private rooms. The privacy, the hospital said, should not only increase comfort, but help reduce the risk of infection.

The new beds, occupying 21,000 square feet, create a unit with 72 ICU beds, roughly 15 percent of the hospital's medical and surgical beds.

A spokesman said that LIJ hasn't had enough critical care beds, and the demand for intensive-care facilities has tripled in recent years because of the aging of the region's population.

LIJ in June, meanwhile, hopes to finish the first phase of its $46.5 million emergency department expansion, more than doubling the size of LIJ's current, emergency department to 36,000 square feet.

More than 62,000 patients sought emergency treatment at the hospital in 2004, in a space designed to accommodate 30,000. The hospital estimates that number will rise to as many as 75,000 annual patients within a decade.

The new emergency department will include 60 private treatment areas, including what the hospital has dubbed "fast track" rooms for patients with less-severe injuries and illnesses. It also will include space for pediatric and adult psychiatric patients.

In 2006, the hospital also began a $30 million effort to build a seven-story parking garage with capacity for 1,100 vehicles. That project, slated to finish in spring of 2008, is being built by Bovis Construction.

Meadowbrook Pointe

Westbury

Size: 700 units

Cost: $400 million

Developer: Beechwood Organization

Architect: No disclosed

They're off and running, all right.

There's a lot of action on the site that once housed Roosevelt raceway. Developer Beechwood Organization broke ground in August of 2005 on Meadowbrooke Pointe Athletic Club and Spa, a $400 million gated condominium community; while the first units were ready for occupancy in October 2006, the 720-unit community for residents age 55 and older is being built in seven phases, and work on the 51-acre development is slated to continue through 2009.

Beechwood's principal, Michael Dubb, grew up near the racetrack and owned horses that raced there. After the track closed, the land was originally zoned for office, but was rezoned for senior housing to meet a Nassau County need.

Meadowbrooke Pointe centers around a $12 million, 25,000-square-foot clubhouse called the Equestrian Club, with an indoor pool, sauna, steam rooms, fitness center and day spa. The development is slated to include two outdoor pools and a one-mile walking/hiking trail. Harkening back to the site's equestrian past, streets bear names such as Harness Drive and Trotting Lane.

Melville Corporate Center III

Melville

Size: 133,000 square feet

Cost: $30 million

Developer: T. Weiss Realty

Architect: Young & Young with interior by TPG

T. Weiss Real Estate President Ted Weiss already knows who one of his tenants will be for the Melville Corporate Center III at 324 S. Service Road. His firm will anchor the four-story, 133,000-square-foot structure from within, filling 6,500 square feet on the ground floor.

"We've been the first tenant in most of our buildings," Weiss said. "We like to move into them, use it as a showroom. Typically, it just acts to give confidence to the tenants that are moving in to know that the landlord is there. "

Weiss's office will include a sales area for marketing and presentations on this building and other projects.

Weiss, who started construction in March 2006 and plans to complete it this month, said the project, including $7 million for the land, cost about $30 million. This is his firm's fourth Melville building.

Riverhead-based Young & Young designed the building, while interior design is by TPG of Melville.

Weiss said he expects some tenants to move in from his other buildings and new tenants, and said he's been selective in the tenancy mix. Early on, he said, he had a chance to move medical companies into the building, but chose not to.

"That's not what we're looking for," Weiss said.

Weiss may soon find himself based in another building. Another new office building may be in the works, he said, and "I always like to be in the newest building. "

Mercy Medical Center

North Pavilion

Rockville Centre

Size: 100,000 square feet

Cost: $40 million

Developer: Mercy Medical Center

Architect: Angelo Corva and Associates

Mercy Medical Center's new north building is big enough to be a whole new hospital.

The 100,000-square foot structure, designed by Angelo Corva and Associates and built by Eugene Racanelli and Racanelli Construction, was funded by bonds and bank financing. Work started on the $40 million project in 2003 and finished in February 2006.

Mercy spokesman Mel Granick said the construction "modernized Mercy's facilities," replacing outdated hospital rooms with state-of-the-art facilities. The hospital expansion - which started out as a skilled nursing facility before being reworked - is a sign of a changing health-care landscape and part of a health-care brick-and-mortar boom.

"The patient needs changed in terms of the population of Long Island," Granick said.

The shiny new facility - with 160 new acute care beds at 1000 North Village Ave. in Rockville Centre - is part of a trend in which hospitals work not only to provide topnotch care, but do it in a better environment.

Mercy's north pavilion offers more natural light, private rooms and colors and finishes the hospital says are designed to encourage relaxation and promote healing. The structure also includes telemetry, up-to-date information systems and comfortable beds designed to prevent falls and help nursing staff monitor patients.

Monter Cancer Center

Lake Success

Size: 37,000 square feet

Cost: $17 million

Developer: North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System

Architect: Ewing Cole

In March 2006, the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System unveiled its $17 million, 37,000-square-foot Monter Cancer Center at the Center for Advanced Medicine, located at 1111 Marcus Ave. in Lake Success.

The space, in the building formerly known as i.Park, is named after Gerald, Elliot, Marilyn and Ruth Monter, whose Monter Family Foundation gave a $10 million donation to the North Shore-LIJ system. North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael Dowling, after the opening, said the idea was to continue to bring cancer care to Long Islanders, who often must travel to Manhattan for similar services.

"This investment eliminates any reason for patients on Long Island or in Queens to commute to Manhattan to access renowned oncologists and the latest treatment options," Dowling said.

The center includes the 11,000-square-foot Phyllis and Stanley Kreitman Chemotherapy Center, equipped with 32 private treatment spaces. It also houses physician offices, social work and support services, nutrition counseling, a bone marrow-stem cell transplant program, a patient education center, a café and a conference room with teleconferencing.

Quality King

N. Bellport

Size: 560,000-square-foot

Cost: Not disclosed

Developer: N/A

Architect: Joseph Matthews

Quality King Distributors Inc. is busy building a massive 560,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution facility in N. Bellport, Yaphank. The firm is consolidating work from sites in Ronkonkoma, Deer Park and Hicksville in its new home, being constructed by Melville-based West Rack Contracting Corp. based on designs by architect Joseph Matthews.

General Counsel Alfred Paliani said the firm eyed locations off Long Island, but the Nussdorf family - founders and owners of the company - decided they wanted to keep its base in the area.

"We did a search and the family ultimately decided that they wanted to be in Long Island," Paliani said. "They have long roots in the community and many long-term employees who they didn't want to leave high and dry. "

Construction on the 37-acre site started in March 2005 and continued throughout 2006. One of Long Island's most massive projects in years, the Brookhaven Industrial Park effort is slated to finish by the end of this summer.

The new operation is expected to bring more than 1,000 jobs to Yaphank, providing an infusion of employees who will use stores, gas stations, delis and restaurants, potentially leading to economic growth.

Rallye BMW

Westbury

Size: 92,000 square feet

Cost: $35 million

Developer: Rallye Group

Architect: HLW International

It isn't an average year when a car dealership makes the ranks of the biggest construction projects on Long Island, but Rallye BMW in Westbury isn't an average dealership.

Construction on the new, $35 million, 92,000-square-foot facility began in 2004 and wrapped up in January. The dealership includes 60 service bays and a four-level garage totaling 4 acres, and that's just the beginning. The facility at 1 Brush Hollow Road also includes a café, BMW Boutique and car wash (free for BMW customers). Naturally, it has wireless Internet and workstations as well as a children's playroom.

The glass-and-metal building has a futuristic look designed to be luxurious, just like the automobiles it sells. The idea is to position Rallye as the ultimate dealer for the ultimate driving machine; the facility even looks a bit like a stretch of a racecar track, where drivers could pull in for service before heading out again.

Peter Terian founded the Rallye Group in 1958 to service imported cars. Along with George Moss, he later set up a Maserati franchise in Sea Cliff. Rallye relocated to Glen Cove and then to Roslyn in 1987, where the two built a Mercedes-Benz and BMW facility.

In 1989, they renovated the Glen Cove facility to include Lexus offerings. Rallye in Westbury is now being billed as one of the biggest BMW dealerships nationwide.

Former Saks building

1300 Franklin Ave.,

Garden City

Size: 115,000 square feet

Cost: Not disclosed

Developer: Alfred Weissman Real Estate Inc.

Architect: John Seifert

You will soon be able to swim and see doctors where Long Islanders once shopped

If the Saks Fifth Avenue store at 1300 Franklin Ave. in Garden City had an illustrious past, the site - acquired by Yonkers-based Alfred Weissman Real Estate Inc. - now appears to have a healthy future. Mineola-based Winthrop-University Hospital and Healthtrax Fitness & Wellness together will fill about two-thirds of the three-story, 115,000-square-foot former department store; the new name for the site will be the Winthrop Wellness Pavilion.

A brick building filled with windows, exterior moldings and awnings, the design is the vision of architect John Seifert.

The future uses are a far cry from the days when Garden City was known as "Long Island's Fifth Avenue. " Winthrop is using the space for physician's offices, physical therapy, sports medicine and health-education classes and seminars.

Healthtrax will offer gym services such as cardio, yoga, Pilates and personal training, as well as a pool.

Stony Brook Center of Excellence

in Wireless and Information Technology

Stony Brook

Size: 110,000 square feet

Cost: $50 million

Developer: Stony Brook University

Architect: Mitchell Giurgola

Wireless technology ties us together with an invisible thread, but now and then it requires a little brick and mortar.

Stony Brook University is plowing ahead with its Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology. The school engaged in a major battle to get the property from Gyrodyne Co. of America, but eventually prevailed through eminent domain. In November 2006, SBU seized 245.5 acres of land known as Flowerfield from Gyrodyne to build its high-tech center, paying Gyrodyne $26 million (a lawsuit on the amount Gyrodyne was paid is pending).

The 100,000-square-foot center, complete with 22 laboratories, will focus on developing technology for homeland and computer security, wireless networks, wireless health care and sensor networks. Construction is slated to finish in 2008, and the university hopes that within a decade, the center will become a base for as many as 1,900 researchers and staff - and an economic engine unto itself, generating revenue and even jobs for Long Island.

Stony Brook University Hospital

Stony Brook

Size: 150,000 square feet

Cost: $300 million

Developer: Stony Brook University

Architect: Cannon Design

Stony Brook University Hospital opened in 1980, and is now in the middle of a massive revamp that entails more than 150,000 square feet of new space.

The hospital set the stage for the modernization with smaller projects in 2002, but only began the major hospital remake in April 2006.The total project is slated to cost $300 million, including $170 million for construction (the remainder is equipment and additional project fees).

Manhattan-based Cannon Design is the lead architect, with construction managed by Providence, R.I.-based Gilbane Building Co.

In addition to 154,000 square feet of new space, the revamp includes 48,000 square feet of renovations, all slated to be finished by June 2008. The second phase, to run from September 2008 through May of 2010, will include an additional 63,000 square feet of renovation.

The hospital is currently expanding its emergency department, operating rooms, entrance and women's and infants' center.

"The emergency department is undersized for the number of visits it receives every year," said Christopher Brennan, executive director of medical center facilities for Stony Brook, adding the hospital is tripling its ER space.

Stony Brook already built a new heart center, orthopedic unit, physical therapy treatment area and dining facility; it has already installed new landscaping, a new helipad and a new parking deck; it has already completed work on an in-house pharmacy and bone marrow transplant unit. In January, it opened a 65,000-square-foot center for outpatient services, bringing cancer services including the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center under one roof, along with various other medical, surgical and pediatric oncology services and a community resource center.

Suffolk County Civil Court

Riverhead

Size: 120,000 square feet

Cost: $35 million

Developer: Suffolk County

Architect: Baldassano Architecture

Suffolk County has been growing rapidly. So is its court house in Riverhead.

Ronkonkoma-based Baldassano Architecture designed a 120,000-square-foot addition to the existing court complex, being built by E.W. Howell. Construction started in 2004 and finished in 2006; renovation of the existing structure, built in 1929, is slated to end in August.

Philip Monastero, a principal at Baldassano, said the $35 million project is designed to create a new building that blends in well with the existing one.

"It fits in," he said. "We really used the old building as a starting point, using the same materials, brick, stone, glass. We're really trying to complement the existing style of architecture. "

The atrium lets in light and serves as a link as well as a contrast between the old, neo-Georgian historic building and the new addition.

The project not only gives Suffolk a bigger, newer courthouse, but plays a role in the development of the area. "The building is part of the revitalization of Riverhead," Monastero said.

Sunrise Business Center

3500 Sunrise Highway,

Great River

Size: 161,000 square feet

Cost: Not disclosed

Developer: Metropolitan Realty Associates

Architect: Combined Resources Consulting Design

Although Long Island has its share of big projects, few are on the scale of the Sunrise Business Center, three interconnected buildings totaling 360,000 square feet, including two already occupied.

The third, a 136,000-square-foot warehouse is being converted into first class office space in a project that also includes the addition of 25,000 square feet. The other buildings are getting cosmetic upgrades.

Joe Farkas, president of Metropolitan Realty Associates in Garden City, bought the Great River complex in September 2006 for about $20 million from a joint venture of Rudin Management of Manhattan and Cogswell Realty, both based in Manhattan.

Although shovels didn't go into the ground last year, planning and design began for this major Central Suffolk project in the fourth quarter of 2006.

"The real estate market has discounted the location for the last decade as a viable office market - I fully disagree," said Farkas, who believes the real estate market will continue heading east, making Central Suffolk buildings more attractive.

The economics also work. Farkas plans to lease the new office building for $19.50 per square foot, far below the nearly $30 being charged in some Melville buildings.

Farkas negotiated a 15-year pilot program with the Town of Islip Industrial Development Agency to reduce real estate takes to $1.62 a square foot, well below the $3 standard for many competing buildings.

"It's an unbelievable benefit to tenants and it saves them tremendous amounts of money," he said.

Touro Law Center

Central Islip

Size: 185,000 square feet

Cost: $35 million

Developer: Touro Law Center

Architect: Baldassano Architecture

Touro in December unveiled its new, 185,000-square-foot campus, designed by Ronkonkoma-based Baldassano Architecture on Belt Drive in Central Islip. The Parr Organization developed the $35 million project, which broke ground in March 2005.

Touro had been housed in a renovated junior high school in Huntington, but now offers nearly 800 full- and part-time students a state-of-the-art facility clad in pre-cast concrete and metal panels, adjacent to federal and state court buildings.

The new Touro includes a 42,000-square-foot law library, a 500-seat auditorium also used as a moot court room and a four-story atrium. Bryan Richter, project architect, said the atrium "pumps people through all areas" of the facility "like a heart. "

The design includes seating in numerous nooks and crannies throughout the building, designed to give students a place to sit and socialize. Outside planters double as benches; U-shaped seminar rooms were laid out to promote communication.

Dean Lawrence Raful said the new look is so appealing that students aren't so quick to leave the campus after class.

"This is an inviting, comfortable environment," Raful said. "We are finding that students are remaining in the building throughout the day, where before, many left right after class. "

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