Massachusetts Firm Spends $106M on LI Industrial Facilities

A Massachusetts firm reached into its coffers and pulled out more than $100 million to buy adjacent industrial properties on Long Island.

NorthBridge Partners paid $105.7 million to purchase two Bay Shore properties from the Rockefeller Group, the Long Island Business News reported. NorthBridge acquired the 313,000-square-foot property at 145 Candlewood Road and the 247,000-square-foot property at 158 Candlewood Road, respectively.

The combined purchase price breaks down to roughly $189 per square foot. NorthBridge is paying a premium on the $94.5 million Rockefeller paid in 2021 to acquire the properties from Rubie’s Costume Company.

A Cushman & Wakefield team including Gary Gabriel and Kyle Schmidt procured the buyer and represented the seller.

The acreage difference between the properties is negligible, but the property at 145 Candlewood has more features, including triple the amount of parking spaces. The property at 145 Candlewood is also vacant; capital improvements are underway and leasing for up to four tenants is expected to begin in January.

Conversely, the property at 158 Candlewood is fully occupied. The space is split between packaging company Lindenmeyr Munroe and sheet metal accessory manufacturer Duro Dyne Corporation.

While it sold two Bay Shore industrial properties, Rockefeller held on to a third at 55 Paradise Lane. A Cushman team is spearheading the leasing effort at the 173,000-square-foot property, which was completed last year.

NorthBridge counts upwards of $3 billion in commercial real estate assets under management. This is its second foray on Long Island after it bought a separate 16,000-square-foot industrial building in Bay Shore for $6.9 million in 2021.

Bahrain-based Investcorp recently purchased a five-property, 435,000-square-foot industrial portfolio in Suffolk County for $95.8 million; two of those properties are also in Bay Shore.

In the second quarter, asking rents for Long Island’s industrial market jumped to $17.11 per square foot, a 10-year high, according to a Colliers report, though there was also 369,000 square feet of negative net absorption.

— Holden Walter-Warner