Two area investors have acquired retail properties in Virginia and Florida in deals brokered by a Long Island firm.
Seaford-based Petrakis Properties, a commercial real estate investment firm headed by Peter Petrakis, acquired a retail strip center in Norfolk, Va.
Petrakis purchased the 5,400-square-foot building on .67 acres at 1877 E. Ocean View Ave. for $1.3 million.
The three-store strip is anchored by a 7-Eleven, with a lease that expires in Aug. 2026. The other tenants are East Tide CBD and Ocean Coin Laundry.
The sale price equates to a 6.75 percent cap rate.
Adam Silber, principal of Plainview-based Silber Investment Properties represented the buyer, while his Silber Investment Properties colleague Chris Madlon represented the Norfolk-based seller, G&G Cape View LLC, in the sales transaction.
Chili’s restaurant at 940 U.S. Highway 1 in Vero Beach. / Courtesy of Silber Investment Properties
In the second deal, FMJ Properties LLC, an affiliate of a New York-based commercial real estate investor, acquired a restaurant property in Florida.
FMJ purchased the 5,688-square-foot restaurant building on 1.91 acres at 940 U.S. Highway 1 in Vero Beach for $2.55 million.
The property is triple-net leased to a Chili’s restaurant, which recently extended its lease for 10 years. The lease is backed by publicly traded Chili’s owner Brinker International, which has over 1,600 locations, according to a broker on the deal.
The sale price equates to a 5.7 percent cap rate.
Nicolas Anzalone of Silber Investment Properties represented the buyer, while his Silber Investment Properties colleague Madlon represented the seller, 940 US 1 LLC, in the Vero Beach sales transaction.
A&G Real Estate Partners, a commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in property disposition, is now marketing 255 Big Lots store leases.
A&G is offering the leases in two groups, pending determination by the court of final bid deadlines in November and December, according to a company statement.
Big Lots initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings on Sept. 9 to facilitate a sale of most of its assets. As part of its filing, the retail chain announced that private equity firm Nexus Capital Management is acquiring “substantially all” of its stores and business operations.
“As the company proceeds to facilitate the sale transaction, it will continue to assess its real estate portfolio, closing additional stores as needed to achieve its goals,” A&G co-president Andy Graiser said in the statement. “This process of portfolio-optimization is creating strong opportunities for retailers and landlords across the country. The availability of additional leases may be announced at a later date upon court approval.”
Currently, A&G is marketing 255 leases, which range in size from 16,321 square feet to 54,610 square feet in 41 states. On Long Island, the firm is offering the leases of three Big Lots stores, including the 43,000-square-foot store at 1851 Sunrise Highway in Bay Shore; 43,530-square-foot store at 1255 Sunrise Highway in Copiague; and the 42,800-square-foot store at 275 S. Broadway in Hicksville.
“Because of their larger formats, many of these desirable, strategically positioned locations are a strong fit for today’s expanding operators, including sports-entertainment tenants and larger food-and-beverage concepts that emphasize gaming areas and hangout spaces,” A&G co-president Emilio Amendola said in the statement.
Big Lots recently announced that it was closing more than 340 stores nationwide. That list included the Big Lots store at 260 Voice Road in Carle Place and the store at 231 Centereach Mall in Centereach, but those leases were already returned to the landlords in the bankruptcy.
Big Lots saw a net sale decrease of $114.5 million from the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of this year, according to public records, equating to a little more than 10 percent of its net sales. The company’s long-term debt also increased by $72.2 million from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, adding up to a total of $573.8 million in long-term debt.
Catholic Health has opened a new urgent care facility at the Station Yards mixed-use development in Ronkonkoma.
The 2,631-square-foot Catholic Health Urgent Care at Ronkonkoma at 3 Hawkins Ave. offers a wide range of services, including physical exams, vaccinations, illness and injury treatment, as well as onsite high-definition X-ray capabilities for adult and pediatric patients, according to a written statement from the health system.
Operated in partnership with Excel Urgent Care, the new Ronkonkoma facility is the most recent in Catholic Health’s growing system of outpatient care locations in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
“This new Ronkonkoma facility is another step toward our goal of providing essential health care services to residents in every corner of Long Island,” Catholic Health President and CEO Patrick O’Shaughnessy said in the statement. “Whether someone walks in with an urgent medical issue or simply to get a flu shot on their commute home from work, our expert team will be there to provide the highest level of care.”
Kelley Coughlan Heck, executive vice president of Tritec Real Estate, which is developing the Station Yards project, said the company is delighted to welcome Catholic Health Services to the development.
“This new partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to enhance the community with a mix of uses in our projects,” she said. “Their urgent care facility will provide a vital service for our tenants as well as local residents, reinforcing Station Yards not just as a center for commerce, but a hub of wellness and care too.”
Gus Nuzzolese of Colliers represented Catholic Health Services, while the team of Maria Valanzano, Steve D’Orazio and Jake Horowitz of Colliers, represented landlord Tritec in the lease transaction.
“Catholic Health Systems and their affiliated hospitals, practices, and professionals have represented top-quality healthcare across Long Island for decades,” D’Orazio said in the statement. “The placement of their urgent care model at Tritec’s Station Yards development will provide immediate and quality medical attention to address the local community’s needs. We’re thrilled to announce their addition to the project.”
When completed, Station Yards will transform 53 acres around the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station, bringing 1,450 apartments, 360,000 square feet of office space and 195,000 square feet of retail space, most of which surrounds a 10,000-square-foot village green.
The Catholic Health Urgent Care is the latest addition to the growing roster of restaurants, retail and service tenants at the sprawling Ronkonkoma development.
“We would like to acknowledge the work put in by the Catholic Health team and work of the leasing brokers, Gus Nuzzolese from Colliers representing CHS, and our team at Colliers – Maria Valanzano, Steve D’Orazio, and Jake Horowitz,” Coughlan Heck said in the statement. “Their collective efforts have enabled this significant addition to our project. We congratulate CHS on opening the doors of the new CHS urgent care facility, marking a new chapter in our collective commitment to serving the Ronkonkoma community.”
A new Gap Factory store is coming to a New Hyde Park retail center.
The apparel chain leased a 7,750-square-foot space in the Lake Success Shopping Center at 1526 Union Turnpike. The space was formerly occupied by Pier 1.
This will be the seventh Gap Factory store on Long Island, following others in Garden City, Plainview, Oceanside, Deer Park, Bellport and Riverhead. The New Hyde Park location is expected to open by the end of November.
Since its ownership gave the property’s leasing assignment to RIPCO Real Estate a few years ago, the 414,000-square-foot Lake Success Shopping Center has seen a slew of new national tenants. A new Target store opened this spring in the 108,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Sears and The Paper Store opened in the 11,000-square-foot space that had been occupied by Modell’s Sporting Goods. Other new tenants that signed leases this year include Foot Locker, Northwell GoHealth and Claire’s.
“Through hard work, determination and industry insight, RIPCO Real Estate continues to bring some of the country’s leading national retailers to the Lake Success Shopping Center,” said RIPCO broker Brian Schuster. “In the last few months alone, the long-awaited opening of Target, as well as the signing of other major tenants and now Gap Factory, demonstrates our proven track record of success in revitalizing a perfectly positioned shopping center.”
The Gap Factory and the other new tenants join the New Hyde Park property’s growing tenant roster that includes Iavarone Market, Macy’s Backstage, Shake Shack, Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, Burlington, and more.
Michael Friedman, president of Inline Realty, represented Gap Factory, while RIPCO’s Schuster represented the landlord, Lake Success Shopping Center LLC, in the latest lease transaction.
Gap Factory is a subsidiary of publicly traded Gap Inc., which also owns the brands Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta. Headquartered in San Francisco, Gap Inc., which had more than 3,300 stores worldwide at the end of 2022, reported 2023 revenue of $14.88 billion.
A growing Hudson Valley-based coffee chain is coming to Long Island, after the company bought 10 former Dairy Barn locations here.
RC LI LLC, an affiliate of Ready Coffee, a drive-thru coffee shop that offers an assortment of coffees, teas, energy drinks, shakes and smoothies, purchased nine former Dairy Barn properties in Nassau County and one in Suffolk County for a little more than $9 million, according to a broker on the deals.
Ready Coffee, which opened its first express cafe in Wappingers Falls in 2019, now has additional locations in Newburgh, LaGrange and Hyde Park. The company, founded by former hedge fund investment manager Jed Bonnem, credits the quality of its coffee to local small-batch roasting, according to its website.
The former Dairy Barn location in East Meadow was one of the stores acquired. / Courtesy of Sovereign Realty Group
The former Dairy Barn properties acquired by the coffee chain include 870 Atlantic Ave., Baldwin; 2885 Grand Ave., Baldwin; 2805 N. Jerusalem Ave., East Meadow; 2020 Jericho Turnpike, East Northport; 114 Franklin Ave., Franklin Square; 177 Atlantic Ave., Freeport; 94 Forest Ave., Glen Cove; 1600 Broadway, Hewlett; 241 Hempstead Ave., Lynbrook; and 2735 Oceanside Road, Oceanside.
The new Ready Coffee locations on Atlantic Avenue in Baldwin and in Glen Cove are already under construction and are expected to open later this year.
The Dairy Barn brand was born a couple of decades after Swiss immigrant Edgar Cosman purchased a failing dairy in East Northport in 1939 and turned Oak Tree Farms into a profitable milk wholesaler several years later. His son Dieter Cosman came up with the Dairy Barn concept as an idea to help sell more of his family-owned dairy’s milk, and opened the first store in 1961. At its peak, the iconic, red-siloed Dairy Barn, had as many as 70 area locations.
The Cosman family closed the Oak Tree dairy on Elwood Road and sold the land to the Engel Burman Group and the 37-acre property was developed into a 246-condominium community for people aged 55 and over called the Seasons at Elwood, which opened in 2019.
The Cosmans sold 38 of the remaining Dairy Barn properties in 2009 to Long Island City-based Simi Enterprises, a family-owned company that began managing the convenience stores under their Loop Food Management affiliate. Several of the locations were leased or sold to independent operators over the last few years.
Clem Coté
In early 2021, Simi made a deal with a company called GFG, which stands for Greek From Greece, to lease 28 of the convenience stores. But after operating the chain for nearly two years, GFG ended up returning the stores to Simi in Nov. 2022. Last year, Simi listed 17 of the properties for sale with Clem Coté of Syosset-based Sovereign Realty Group.
“When we began the marketing process on the portfolio, we understood that these properties would garner a lot of attention due to their history, location, and unique configuration,” Coté said. “However, the size of the properties and the fact that they were vacant for so long were the main hinderances. We found that a few of the municipalities had even revised their zoning code and drive-thru convenience stores were no longer even classified under current guidelines. When we were approached with the Ready Coffee concept, we felt there was high probability that municipalities would welcome the brand and be relieved that these long vacant sites would be brought back to life. Ready Coffee’s unique business model should prove to be very successful within the confines of the former Dairy Barn locations.”
Ken Hochhauser and Evans Cyprus of Winick Realty Group represented Ready Coffee in its Long Island acquisitions, while Coté represented the seller, Simi Ent. LLC, in nine of the 10 sales transactions.
A Nordstrom Rack store will be one of the new anchor tenants at the redeveloped SunVet shopping center in Holbrook.
The 26,780-square-foot store at The Shops at SunVet will be the fifth Long Island location for the off-price apparel, accessories and footwear retailer, which also has stores at Roosevelt Field, the Gallery at Westbury Plaza, Manhasset Center and a newly opened 24,000-square-foot store at the Gardiner Manor Mall in Bay Shore where it replaced Staples.
The Nordstrom Rack store at SunVet will be located next to the new Whole Foods Market at the 168,000-square-foot center and joined by a tenant roster that includes Starbucks, Mogu Modern Chinese Kitchen, Aspen Dental, and branches for Teachers Federal Credit Union, Wells Fargo and Citibank, among others.
Syosset-based Blumenfeld Development Group signed a 99-year ground lease for the 18-acre retail complex at 5801 Sunrise Highway in 2022 with plans to redevelop the distressed former mall. Last year, BDG entered a joint venture on the redevelopment project with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers, which holds the majority interest in the JV and oversees leasing and operations at the Holbrook complex.
SunVet becomes Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency’s 11th retail center in the Long Island market, following its $130 million acquisition of four shopping centers from Serota Properties at the end of 2021 and its $30 million purchase of East Meadow Plaza in 2022.
Besides the new store at SunVet, Nordstrom Rack is planning to open more Long Island locations within the next year or so.
Adam Bass and Eric Gillman of CBRE represented Nordstrom Rack, while the landlord, Regency Centers, was represented in-house in the SunVet lease transaction.
A new Sephora store is slated to open at Tanger Deer Park this fall.
The global retailer of personal care and beauty products will open a 5,000-square-foot location near the Offline by Aerie and Athleta stores at the 739,000-square-foot retail center.
“Sephora’s arrival reinforces our commitment to elevating and diversifying the selection of brands at Tanger Deer Park,” Amaka Muir, Tanger Deer Park marketing director, said in a written statement. “We know our shoppers are hungry for the latest trends in beauty and wellness, and Sephora leads the category, offering an unparalleled and aspirational beauty experience with a comprehensive suite of price points and products.”
The Sephora at Tanger Deer Park is one of five new stores the beauty products chain will be opening at Tanger properties nationally. The retailer will also be coming to Tanger centers in Charleston, S.C., National Harbor, Md., Palm Beach, Fla., and Glendale, Az.
Expanding beauty and wellness offerings is part of Tanger’s overall strategy to diversify its portfolio with new brands and categories outside of apparel and footwear to enhance shoppers’ experience, including home furnishings, food and beverage, and entertainment, according to a company statement. Tanger has leased nearly 200,000 square feet of new brands since Jan. 2023, as the company seeks to attract younger and more affluent shoppers to join the more than 120 million guests who visit Tanger’s centers annually.
“We continue to evolve our centers into true destinations by elevating and diversifying the overall brand and category mix across our portfolio, bringing in new, high demand categories and brands to attract the next generation of shoppers,” Stephen Yalof, Tanger president and CEO, said in the statement. “The expanded partnership with Sephora is an exciting step in Tanger’s growth.”
Justin Stein, executive vice president of leasing for Tanger, said adding Sephora should be a successful partnership for both companies.
“As the category’s leading prestige retail brand, Sephora will bring an elevated and aspirational beauty experience to our centers and enable us to offer our guests a comprehensive suite of price points and products in the beauty category,” he said in the statement.
In its ongoing effort to diversify the shopping experience at its centers, the company officially changed its corporate name last November from Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. to simply Tanger Inc.
Publicly traded Tanger has a portfolio of 38 outlet centers, one adjacent managed center, and one open-air lifestyle center totaling over 15 million square feet, located in 20 states and Canada. Its centers feature over 3,000 stores operated by more than 700 different brand name companies.
Founded in Paris in 1970, Sephora has more than 2,600 stores in 34 countries. It is owned by publicly traded LVMH, which has brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Tiffany, Bulgari, Dior and many more under its corporate umbrella.
New retail tenants are opening at the revamped Huntington Shopping Center in Huntington Station.
Clothes Horse just opened a 2,148-square-foot store at the retail complex at 350 Walt Whitman Road. The women’s clothing boutique has other locations in Merrick, Albertson and Brooklyn. It will be celebrating the opening of the new Huntington store through Sunday, June 23.
Pacfe Nails & Spa will soon open a 3,681-square-foot location at Huntington Shopping Center. This will be the third Long Island location for the nail studio chain, following Hicksville and Centereach.
Another new tenant is European Wax Center, which will open soon in a 1,268-square-foot space.
As LIBN reported in January, Street to Table, a restaurant with a menu inspired by street food from around the world, will open a 2,679-square-foot eatery at Huntington Shopping Center this summer. This is the second Long Island location for Street to Table, which opened in Merrick in 2019.
Häagen-Dazs will also be expanding its Long Island footprint with the opening of a 1,406-square-foot store at the Huntington Station center this summer. It will be the 11th Häagen-Dazs store on Long Island.
Courtesy of Federal Realty
The 21-acre Huntington Shopping Center is nearing the completion of a $75 million redevelopment and improvement project by its owner Federal Realty Investment Trust.
“As our redevelopment of Huntington Shopping Center nears completion, we’re excited to add several local brands to our merchandizing mix,” Chris Fleming, vice president of Asset Management at Federal Realty, said in a company statement. “Alongside Whole Foods, The Container Store and REI, these small shops will help draw and maintain new and repeat customers for years to come.”
Currently 94 percent leased, the 210,000-square-foot center has opened nine new tenants including The Container Store, REI, J.Crew Factory, Just Salad, Burger Village, Paris Baguette and others. The center’s new grocery anchor Whole Foods is expected to open this summer.
Clothes Horse was represented by Jason Sobel of RIPCO Real Estate, Pacfe Nails was represented by Ryan Adhami of Schuckman Realty, European Wax was represented by Anthony Russo of Cushman & Wakefield, and Häagen-Dazs and Street to Table were represented by Raj Whadwa of Global Realty Services. Joe Byrnes and Chris Cole of Federal Realty served as in-house representatives for ownership in the lease transactions.
Three new retail tenants are set to open at the Gardiner Manor Mall in Bay Shore.
Nordstrom Rack will open a 24,000-square-foot store at the mall at 854 Sunrise Highway on Thursday, June 13. The space was formerly occupied by Staples, which closed in Nov. 2023.
This will be the fourth Long Island location for the off-price apparel, accessories and footwear retailer, which also has stores at Roosevelt Field, the Gallery at Westbury Plaza and in Manhasset Center.
The new Nordstrom Rack in Bay Shore will host a grand opening celebration featuring “light bites, gift card giveaways, beauty activations and more,” according to a company statement.
The new store is also partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island to host “littles” who will receive gift cards to shop for themselves and their families on Tuesday, June 11. Nordstrom Rack has donated more than $1.5 million in support of its long-term partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters, according to the company.
A new Foot Locker store is slated to open this week in a 17,000-square-foot space at the Gardiner Manor Mall. The Foot Locker is relocating from its former location in the South Shore Mall nearby. The chain’s new space was formerly occupied by Modell’s Sporting Goods.
Another new tenant at the mall will be Bath & Body Works, which is building its new store in a 5,000-square-foot space that was formerly occupied by a Hallmark store. The new Bath & Body Works is expected to open later this year.
The 220,566-square-foot Gardiner Manor Mall is owned by Indianapolis-based Kite Realty Group, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns interests in 180 shopping centers and mixed-use assets in the U.S. totaling about 28 million square feet of leasable space, according to its website. On Long Island, Kite Realty Group also owns the 138,440-square-foot Coram Plaza, the 61,639-square-foot Westbury Center, and the 32,322-square-foot New Hyde Park Shopping Center.
Adam Bass and Eric Gillman of CBRE represented Nordstrom Rack, Evan Schuckman of RIPCO Real Estate represented Foot Locker and Richard Dietrich of Sitequest Retail Real Estate represented Bath & Body Works, while Daniel Glazer and Joanne Argenti of RIPCO Real Estate, exclusive leasing agents for Kite Realty Group on Long Island and the New York area, represented ownership in the Foot Locker and Bath & Body Works lease transactions.
Banners on fencing around the outside of a restaurant space at Walt Whitman Shops proclaim that Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue is coming soon, but that plan is now smoked after a beef between the mall’s owner and the tenant has landed in court.
Walt Whitman Mall LLC, an affiliate of Indianapolis-based mall owner Simon Property Group, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County Monday against Fat Bones LLC, which does business as Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue and Tiny’s Cantina, for more than $381,000 in back rent and to take back possession of the 6,376-square-foot space.
Photo by Christopher Appoldt
Fat Bones LLC is owned by Manhattan restaurateur Peter Glazier, his wife Penny and his son Matthew. The Glaziers have owned several New York City restaurants, including Michael Jordan’s The Steak House, Strip House, Monkey Bar and others.
The Walt Whitman suit claims that Fat Bones LLC signed a 10-year lease in Oct. 2021 for the space, formerly occupied by Zinburger Wine and Burger Bar, which closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the acai bowl franchise Bango Bowls. According to the lease, the company was to use the space and an outdoor patio at the Huntington Station mall for a Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue bar and restaurant and a fast-casual restaurant called Tiny’s Cantina, which were to open by a required completion date of Oct. 29, 2022, the same time that rent was to begin.
The tenant was to pay monthly installments totaling $143,460 in rent for the first year and $286,290 annually for the second through fifth years, according to the lease. If the restaurant failed to open by 90 days after the required opening date, the tenant would have to pay an additional 25 percent of the daily rent for each day it wasn’t yet open, the lawsuit states.
Photo by Christopher Appoldt
The mall management claims that the tenant has not done any work on the space for several months and “has given no indication that it ever intends to complete such work,” adding that the “premises has sat idle for several months.”
Besides seeking damages of at least $381,210, the mall is demanding to take back the space on June 20, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by the mall comes a week after the restaurant owners filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan against Simon Property Group and two of its malls, Walt Whitman Shops and King of Prussia Mall, for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, willful misrepresentation and civil conspiracy. That lawsuit, which is seeking punitive damages, was filed nearly a month after Walt Whitman Mall LLC sent an April 16 letter to Fat Bones LLC demanding payment of $351,322 in back rent for the Walt Whitman Shops restaurant space.
The Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue restaurant at King of Prussia Mall “has been closed for at least a month,” according to a person in the mall’s management office, who wouldn’t say why it was shuttered.
Valley Stream-based attorney Roslyn Maldonado, who represents Fat Bones LLC and filed the lawsuit against Simon and its two malls, said via email: “At this time, my client has no comment.”
Attorney Michael O’Donnell of the Manhattan-based Riker Danzig law firm, who represents Walt Whitman Mall LLC and filed the lawsuit against the restaurant tenant, has not responded to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Simon Property Group has also not responded to a request for comment.
The original location for Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue, which bills itself as a Texas-style BBQ eatery, is on Flatbush Avenue in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn and is still in operation. Tiny’s Cantina, a Mexican-style restaurant and bar, operates in a Flatbush Avenue location down the street from Morgan’s.
A retail property in East Meadow has sold for $8 million.
The Diaz family, Long Island-based commercial real estate investors, purchased the 30,725-square-foot strip center on 2.18 acres at 2575 Hempstead Turnpike.
Also known as East Meadow Commons, the center is fully occupied by four tenants that include Texas Roadhouse and Dollar Tree. It has parking for 140 vehicles.
The sale price equates to a 6.54 percent cap rate.
Formerly one larger center, Nassau Financial Federal Credit Union, which had been a tenant, asked the former owner to subdivide the property. The credit union then purchased one of the two retail strips that were created.
The buyer was self-represented, while Daniel Abbondandolo and Joegy Raju of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Nassimi Realty, in the sale of the four-tenant retail parcel.
“This was a complicated sale due to the recent subdivision of the property that divided the center into two parcels,” Abbondandolo said. “Due to a patient seller, we were able to accommodate the timing of the buyer’s 1031 requirement.”
The C&W brokers are also currently marketing another retail strip for Nassimi Realty in New Hyde Park. Manhattan-based Nassimi owns 44 commercial properties totaling more than 7.2 million square feet in 14 states.
Dough & Co. Pizza is expanding with a second Long Island restaurant.
The business leased a 2,463-square-foot space in a retail strip center at 1014 Fort Salonga Road in Northport. The spot was formerly occupied by Regalo Pizzeria.
Dough & Co.’s young partners, Daniel Rocca and his friend Teddy Fortunato, opened their first restaurant at 318 Main St. in Huntington in Feb. 2022.
Though both just 25, Rocca and Fortunato already have many years of restaurant experience. While he was growing up, Rocca’s family owned and operated pizzerias and he was still a teenager when he became a manager at Umberto’s in Plainview. Fortunato has also held a few different jobs in the restaurant industry, including a cook at a diner, bar manager and pizza delivery driver.
Dough & Co. has also earned some accolades in its brief history. It earned best pizza honors from Newsday in the last two years and was named the top three best pizza in the New York tri-state area by the Washington Post.
The new Northport location represents a big leap forward for the young restaurateurs.
“We are very excited to be opening in Northport. Already having a location in Huntington, we felt Northport was the next great step for us,” Rocca told LIBN. “My business partner Theodore Fortunato is a current resident of Northport and always found it home, and for myself I have met nothing more than the kindest hardworking families in the Northport community. It’s safe to say our experience with Northport as a town is spectacular. Our Northport store has beautiful ample parking which is a great improvement from our Huntington location but will provide the same delicious pizza and food our highly recognized Huntington location provides.”
Marissa Cosentino of Scout Realty Group represented the tenant, as well as the landlord, 1014 Holding Company LLC, in the Northport lease transaction.
“Nothing brings people together quite like great food,” Cosentino said. “Wishing them continued success and fulfillment in this new location.”
Rocca and Fortunato hope to open their new Northport restaurant in mid-June.
Growing café chain Gregorys Coffee is expanding with a new location at the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City.
The Roosevelt Field store, which opens Friday, April 5, will be the company’s third Long Island location, following others at 1932 Deer Park Ave. in Deer Park and 878 Walt Whitman Road in Melville.
Gregory Zamfotis / Photo by Judy Walker
“At Gregorys Coffee we strive to challenge the status quo and see coffee differently,” Gregory Zamfotis, founder and CEO of Gregorys Coffee, said in a company statement. “We are excited to introduce our third location in Long Island and welcome more ‘Gregulars’ into our family. Long Island exudes the feeling of family and we are so excited to join the community. This location has been a long time coming; we are delighted to officially open the doors.”
Zamfotis grew up in the food industry. His father George owned a small chain of delicatessens in Manhattan called Zams, where a young Gregory would often lend a hand.
Zamfotis opened his first Gregorys Coffee location on Manhattan’s Park Avenue South in Dec. 2006 and there are now 37 locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington D.C.
The newest Gregorys Coffee is the first mall location for the 17-year-old company.
“We’re thrilled to work with Simon (Property Group) on this new location at Roosevelt Field Mall, and believe we are the perfect coffee brand for their shoppers and merchants alike,” René Puerta, director of marketing at Gregorys, said in the statement. “With drinks ranging from our refreshers to cold brew concoctions as well as delicious vegan eats, Gregorys is well-positioned to cater to the wide range of customers that shop here.”
Gregorys Coffee offers a wide variety of hot and cold beverages, including several types of coffee, cappuccino, espresso, lattes, teas, chais, green protein drinks, smoothies, juices and more. The family-owned chain also offers an extensive menu of baked goods, featuring muffins, donuts, cookies and cakes. There are also sandwiches, vegan burritos, oatmeals, parfaits, pudding and more.
A shopping center in New Hyde Park has sold for $12.825 million.
NHP 2079 LLC, an affiliate of a Long Island-based commercial real estate investment group, purchased the 20,755-square-foot center on 1.54 acres at 2079-2095 Hillside Ave.
Known as New Hyde Park Plaza, the center is 84 percent occupied with a tenant roster that includes Lakeshore Learning Center, H&R Block, Supercuts, Bagels & A Hole Lot More, Previti Papazzio restaurant, and Pink Nail & Spa.
The sale price equates to a projected cap rate of 6 percent.
The seller, Jericho-based Sanders Equities, sold the New Hyde Park property as part of a 1031 exchange. Late last year, the company acquired a two-building industrial portfolio in Savannah, Ga. for about $33 million.
“This was a good opportunity at the right time to sell and expand our footprint in the Southeast market, specifically the Savannah industrial portfolio acquisition,” said Jordan Sanders, president of Sanders Equities.
Adam Bass and Eric Gillman of CBRE represented the buyer, while the seller, Sanders Equities, was self-represented in the New Hyde Park sales transaction.
