Core Plus Properties Acquires Office for $27M

WHITE PLAINS-Core Plus Properties has concluded its second major property acquisition deal with the RPW Group in the last 13 months. The Stamford, CT-based firm has acquired the 120 Bloomingdale Rd. office building here for $27.3 million. In September 2004, Core Plus entered the Westchester County office market when it purchased the 124,725-sf Briarcliff Corporate Campus in Briarcliff Manor, formerly the headquarters of insurer Frank B. Hall, in a $20.6-million transaction.

The 120 Bloomingdale Rd. property, which totals 145,378-sf, was entirely vacant in 1998 when RPW acquired the building in a bankruptcy auction for $8.5 million. Since then, the locally based firm completely renovated the building at a cost of approximately $12 million and attracted multiple tenants to the property, which is now 100% leased.

Cushman & Wakefield represented seller Robert Weisz, principal of RPW Group, and procured the buyer. Working on the sale were Cushman & Wakefield Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group’s Andrew Merin, vice chairman, and Patrick Colwell, senior director, along with the property’s leasing agent Glenn Walsh, senior director of Cushman & Wakefield.

The property’s major tenants include the New York State Department of Labor, which leases approximately 42,000 sf and Byram Healthcare, which has an 18,765-sf office. Others on the roster include Pro Act Technologies, Pitney Bowes and Oxman Tulis Kirkpatrick.

As a result of the sale, RPW Group, which is headquartered at the building, will relocate to approximately 7,000 sf at its 800 Westchester Ave. building in Rye Brook, the former Altria Group complex, by the first half of 2006, Weisz says. He adds that his firm is about to sign a lease with Union State Bank for a full-service branch on the fourth floor of the 800 Westchester Ave. building. The deal for 1,200 sf of space was expected to be finalized perhaps as early as yesterday afternoon.

“We attracted multiple offers from regional and local investors ranging from institutions to individuals,” Colwell says. He adds that the marketing of the property was limited to New York area developers and investors at the request of the seller.

The sales announcement comes at a time when a number of high-profile office properties are expected to change hands soon. Area brokerage sources say that W&M Properties is about to close a deal to sell its 711 Westchester Ave. property to Reckson Associates Realty. In addition, a winning bidder on the sale of the EastRidge Properties portfolio along Interstate 287 in White Plains and Harrison could emerge shortly, brokerage sources tell GlobeSt.com.