Leasing Begins for $100 Mil Warehouse Project

NEW YORK CITY-The marketing of a 530,000-sf warehouse and office project currently under construction near JFK Airport is finally under way. The $100 million complex is the first major development within the JFK corridor in 15 years.

Cushman & Wakefield of Long Island, Inc. was recently awarded the exclusive agency for the industrial/office park. Reid Berch, a senior director at C&W Long Island and Carlton Wenz, a director at the firm will represent developer International Airport Centers LLC on the project, to be called IAC New York. Berch tells GlobeSt.com interest in the project is high, despite economic uncertainties and the World Trade Center disaster.

“We made a conscious decision to go with this project last week,” Berch says. “Now we’re going full steam ahead. We’ve been talking to a number of interested people who could fill up at least 200,000 sf fairly quickly.”

The four-building warehouse and office complex will sit on 25 acres along what was formerly known as Rockaway Blvd., located a quarter mile from the airport’s easternmost entrance. The roadway has been renamed International Airport Center Blvd.

Buildings A and B are scheduled for completion by fall 2002. Delivery on the remaining buildings will depend on how much interest the project generates, and could be simultaneous with the first two. “We can go into the ground immediately,” Berch says.

Berch says the gated property’s security-conscious design is a major asset for potential tenants. “This is a self-contained park. There’s only one way into the complex, through a secure entrance, and all the perimeter fencing is equipped with video cameras that monitor the premises on a 24-hour basis.”

Located from 230 to 279 International Airport Center Blvd, each of the four buildings will contain class A office space as well as warehouse facilities: Building A will total 99,521 sf, including 22,000 sf of office space; building B will be 107,762 sf, 23,000 sf office space; building C will be 177,870 sf, 88,000 sf office space and building D will be 141,782 sf, 26,000 sf office space. The office components will have secure private entrances with elevators to the mezzanine and second floors.

According to C&W research, JFK has some of the lowest airport industrial vacancy rates in the nation, with more than 4.5 million sf of warehouse and office space and vacancy rates ranging from 3 to 5%. It. is also among the busiest areas in the world for handling and warehousing air cargo. “The property is being marketed to all airport-related companies,” Berch says. “We’re talking to freight brokers, trucking companies, distribution companies, any airline business.”