MANHASSET, NY—North Shore LIJ has acquired the 600 Community Drive office building here form a partnership led by New York City-based Carlton Group Chairman Howard L. Michaels for a record-shattering price of $65 million.

The 252,000-square-foot property sold for an effective purchase price of $260-per-square-foot. North Shore LIJ had been a subtenant at the property, which is within walking distance of the North shore LIJ campus, for the past eight years.

The Carlton Group in its sales announcement states that North Shore LIJ played "possum" showing no interest in buying or leasing space in the building until the building's master lease held by United Business Media was set to expire on October 31st of this year. Talks between North Shore LIJ and the building ownership began months prior to the expiration.

Carlton Group chairman Michaels and his principal transaction team petitioned the Village of North Hills and eventually secured zoning approval to lease approximately 80,000 square feet of the building for medical office use. This was a huge victory for the 600 partnership as medical office rents proximate to North Shore LIJ Hospital are significantly higher than typical office rents, Carlton Group states.

Michaels also engaged a local architect who developed a renovation plan for the building that included interior improvements and a new facade entrance. Michaels was also able to renew two key leases in the building, including one with North Shore LIJ earlier this year. Michaels then hired Richard Travaglini, a leasing specialist who had worked for the last 10 years at Mack Cali Realty. Travaglini, working with Michaels and others on the Carlton Strategic Ventures asset management team, developed a solid pipeline of new tenant activity that would have allowed the partnership to operate the building as a successful multi-tenanted building.

Based on those developments, North Shore LIJ realized they needed to make a deal to acquire the building in order to prevent the property from being a multi-tenanted building for years to come, Carlton Group states in its announcement.