LI Shopping Center Changes Hands for $36M

CARLE PLACE, NY-Voice Road Plaza, a 131,850-square-foot shopping center here, has sold for $36.2 million, slightly more than the seller paid for it two years ago. In a release, Sperry Van Ness’ Joseph French calls the transaction “the most difficult sale our team has ever completed.”

Challenges the SVN team faced in selling the 8.3-acre property at 260 Voice Rd. included a declining economy, disappearing liquidity and diminishing consumer confidence. The owner, reportedly a hedge fund managed by Stillwater Capital, “needed an exit strategy” and listed the center in the beginning of the recession.

“The major obstacle was the existing mortgage, which required an assumption,” says French, SVN’s national director of retail, in a release. “Due to its low LTV, a significant amount of capital was required to complete this transaction, which drastically limited the pool of potential buyers.” SVN marketed the property for 10 months and distributed more than 175 sale packages.

The hedge fund and its operating partners, Reuven Kahane and Ian Deutsch of Voice Road JV, LLC, bought the shopping center in December 2006 from Rochester, NY-based First Allied Corp. for $35.3 million. The buyer in Wednesday’s transaction was not disclosed, but is described in the release as a 1031 multifamily investor with equity to invest. Florida-based Double Click Realty referred the buyer.

Located two blocks from Roosevelt Field Mall, one of the largest regional malls in the US, Voice Road Plaza is 98.8% leased. It’s anchored by Staples, Big Lots, Party City, Dress Barn and Bass. The property was originally built in 1951 and renovated in 1996.French and Neil Golub, also of SVN’s White Plains, NY office, represented the seller.