Long Island retail/office complex acquired by NYC investment group.

WALSAM EMP, LLC, an investment group headed by Walter & Samuels Chairman David Berley, has acquired East Meadow Plaza, a 200,000 square-foot retail/office development in East Meadow, Long Island for a purchase price of approximately $14 million.

Located on an 11-acre site at the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike and East Meadow Avenue, the property consists of three retail buildings comprising 125,000 square feet and an adjacent five-story, 75,000 square-foot office building.

Walter & Samuels, Inc., the Manhattan-based real estate company with a reputation for successfully rejuvenating under-performing properties, has taken over the day-to-day management and operation of the property.

"This is an exciting opportunity for our firm and we're looking forward to the challenge of repositioning this superbly located property in the marketplace," said Berley, who noted that GE Capital virtually "hand picked" his company for this assignment. GE Capital has taken back a purchase money mortgage because of their confidence in Walter & Samuels, he asserted.

"We've had a long and productive relationship with GE Capital. They're very familiar and comfortable with our ability to breathe new life into, as well as increase the profitability of real estate assets," he added.

Other properties that Berley has co-ventured with GE Capital include 304 Park Avenue South and 500 Eighth Avenue, two office/retail buildings totaling approximately half-a-million square feet; and 133 Second Avenue, a six-story retail/residential building located on the corner of St. Mark's Place.

Steve Forest and Peter Weiss, Walter & Samuels' managing directors who head the firm's growing Acquisition Division, will direct the management at East Meadow Plaza. They are both former practicing real estate attorneys who are now acting as real estate professionals. They will also work closely with the firm's Asset Management Division, headed by co-directors Michael Reingold, CPA and David Lansey. With new acquisitions, Walter & Samuels assembles a substantial management team of experts to maximize the property's value.

Forest and Weiss indicated that Walter & Samuels was actively pursuing additional acquisitions on behalf of its investment group throughout the New York metropolitan area.

East Meadow Plaza, which was built in 1968, is presently over 82 percent leased. Retail tenants include Radio Shack, Modell's/Pearl Paint, Zachary's, Genovese Drugs, Sizes Unlimited, Payless Shoes, Bank of New York, Callahan's Restaurant and Chase Manhattan Bank. Office tenants include publicly traded companies such as the John Hancock Insurance Company, Medaphis and Gilman & Ciocia CPA's.

In just 60 days since the closing, Walter & Samuels has negotiated with several potential tenants and has two major retail leases out for signature, which would bring the development's occupancy to 91 percent.

This is the third commercial center that Walter & Samuels is managing on Long Island for institutional and private investment groups. The acquisition group of Berley, Forest and Weiss are actively pursuing new acquisitions in this area.

Walter & Samuels manages over 100 commercial and residential properties throughout the metropolitan area, while offering a full range of brokerage, asset management, investment sales, financial and consulting services.