YONKERS, NY-In a sign that industrial properties are gradually making a comeback in lower New York, kitchen manufacturer and distributor Express Cabinets Inc. will relocate from Newark to Yonkers. The company has purchased a two-story 200,000-square-foot facility at 630 Central Park Ave. for $7.6 million, making it the largest industrial sale to date in Westchester County.
“Buildings like this are sort of like our sweet spot,” Budd Wiesenberg, vice president of CBRE’s Stamford office, tells GlobeSt.com, who handled negotiations with CBRE EVP William V. Cuddy, Jr. on behalf of the seller, Stewart EFI, an international supplier of metal stamping and assemblies. Express Cabinets Inc. is scheduled to move into the building in spring 2012, while Stewart EFI has consolidated their Yonkers operations to company-owned facilities in Thomaston, CT and El Paso, TX. “We are so happy that another industrial user has stepped in to fill their footprint,” he adds.
The building, constructed in the early 1930s, once served as a warehouse and distribution center for John Wanamaker department stores, according to CBRE. Stewart EFI’s predecessor, Stewart Stamping Co., operated in the building for over 50 years and expanded the structure in a number of stages to its current size.
“It’s a wonderful iconic structure and buildings aren’t really built this way anymore,” Wiesenberg says. “It will really have long-term value for that user, and vending appeal potentially.”
Wiesenberg says the building is “uniquely positioned” on the New York State Thruway, which can provide branding opportunities for the tenant. “They are a national distributor and have a very significant presence in the Tri-State area,” he says, noting that Express Cabinets already has a large footprint in the Morrisania section of the Bronx located nearby. “It is home to a good part of their workforce and their markets,” he says.
The 3.5-acre site is located near Yonkers Raceway and the Cross County Shopping Center directly off Exit 3 of I-87 near the New York City/Westchester border. The deal also marks the third consecutive year that CBRE has sold the largest industrial building in Westchester County over 100,000 square feet, the company says. Other past property sales include Baker’s Pride Oven Company’s sale of their facility at 30 Pine St. in New Rochelle in 2009 to Pearlgreen Corp. and Precision Valve’s sale of their facility at 700 Nepperhan Ave. in Yonkers to Mile Square Corp. in 2010.
Manufacturing activity is also heating up further south in the Bronx. Last month, Smith Electric Vehicles said it would develop a 90,000-square-foot electric commercial truck facility inside the former Murray Feiss building near Hunts Point.
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