Expanding in the Long Island market.

The Edward S. Gordon Company, Inc. (ESG) announced its expansion to the Long Island marketplace with the opening of a new full-service commercial brokerage office in Syosset. The formal expansion comes as ESG has established a strong Long Island track record, which includes responsibility for many of the market's largest office leasing transactions over the past three years.

The Edward S. Gordon Company of Long Island LLC will offer office, industrial and retail leasing, investment sales and property management services. The company has been formed through a joint venture of ESG and Sasso & Fitzsimons, Inc. (S&F), one of Long Island's premier commercial real estate firms.

"We view Long Island as an exceptional - and largely untapped - opportunity," said Stephen B. Siegel, president of ESG, which has five other offices in the New York area. "Long Island is a diverse real estate marketplace with an improving economy. There are a host of young, emerging companies that stand to benefit from strategic real estate services that we offer, as well as well-established companies, many of whom are already ESG clients."

ESG of Long Island has already been awarded a prize assignment: the leasing agency for EAB Plaza in Uniondale. The 1.1 million square-foot property is the largest and one of the most prestigious office complexes on Long Island.

Long Island is familiar terrain for ESG. The firm's extensive corporate relationships - coupled with its reputation for excelling in the structuring of highly sophisticated transactions - has enabled ESG to close some of Long Island's most significant transactions.

These include a 100,000 square-foot headquarters for the law firm of Rivkin Radler & Kremer at EAB Plaza; a 230,000 square-foot headquarters for The Robert Plan Corporation at a former Northrop/Grumman facility in Bethpage; and a 115,000 square-foot operations center for GreenPoint Financial Corp. at the Triad office complex in Lake Success. These leasing transactions were among the largest on Long Island, respectively, in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

Thus far in 1996, ESG has represented Hewlett-Packard in the disposition of a 60,000 square-foot facility in Huntington and a 21,000 square-foot lease in Melville; Katharine Gibbs School in a relocation to a 32,000 square-foot building in Melville; JC Penney in the sale leaseback of a 100,000 square-foot warehouse/distribution facility in Farmingdale, and Periphonics in a 55,000 square-foot expansion in Hauppauge.

Meanwhile, S&F brings to ESG a wealth of experience in the Long Island real estate market and extensive connections in the corporate community and with local government officials.

Its two principals, Theodore P. Sasso, Jr. and Edward F. Fitzsimons, II, have over 50 years of combined experience in Long Island real estate, representing such companies as Nikon Inc., Dime Savings Bank and Canon USA.

Both men are former senior executives of Cushman & Wakefield; Sasso established that firm's initial Long Island office in 1980. They formed S&F in 1994.

The two principals and five other professionals currently on S&F's staff will transact all their business through ESG of Long Island. The company's day-to-day operations will be managed by Sasso, Fitzsimons and Richard Karson, each of whom will hold the title of Senior Managing Director of ESG of Long Island. Karson, a 10-year ESG veteran, will serve as the liaison between the firm's New York City and Long Island offices, and heads up the sales and marketing efforts for ESG of Long Island.

"We began working with Sasso & Fitzsimons on an informal basis about 12 months ago, and both firms immediately recognized the strong benefits we'd realize by joining forces," Karson said.

"ESG has a proven methodology for serving the needs of corporate and institutional clients, and we're well-known for our ability to develop innovative solutions to complex real estate challenges," Karson said. "S&F's knowledge of the local market and experience in structuring and negotiating government incentive packages are unrivaled by any other Long Island firm. It makes for a potent combination."

ESG of Long Island's capabilities were enhanced further with the recent addition of Martin Lomazow, a 14-year veteran of Long Island real estate. "We are committed to staffing ESG of Long Island with the best professionals, and Marty is the latest example," Karson said. "He has an in-depth knowledge of Long Island real estate, and will assist us greatly in providing a level of client service that is unmatched by any other firm in this marketplace."

ESG of Long Island's staff will increase to 12 professionals over the next few months. Increased investments in information technologies will allow the firm to maintain market research databases and to publish quarterly reports on Long Island real estate market activity.