Plainview-based Rechler Equity Partners has purchased 73 acres in Medford where it plans to develop a new industrial park.

The sale price was not disclosed, but real estate industry sources say it was about $38 million.

The property off Horseblock Road was formerly owned by the Toussie family, who had installed infrastructure, including sewers at the site more than a decade ago when it was called Empire Corporate Park. However, the former owners never constructed any buildings there and the property has remained dormant.

The new owners have renamed the site Rechler Business District, where it has the capacity to build 845,000 square feet. Rechler Equity Partners principal Mitchell Rechler said the company has also changed the name of the property’s main street to Donald’s Way, in honor of his father, prolific developer Donald Rechler, who died in 2019.

The company plans to develop the new park in phases, with the first building being 138,770 square feet with 28-foot-high ceilings and 49-foot by 44-foot column spacing at the entry of the park. The building planned for 10 Donald’s Way will feature 15 loading docks, four drive-in bays and an EFSR sprinkler system.

Tax breaks from the Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency will be available to tenants of the new park, which will be Rechler Equity’s first ground-up development since the Hampton Business District in Westhampton Beach. Just last week, the company was approved for economic incentives from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency for its final building at the Hampton Business District.

“We like the site because as we are finishing Westhampton, we were looking for a large site where we could build another business park and because of its proximity to the Long Island Expressway, we thought it was a good fit for us,” Rechler said of the Medford property. “Because of the success of what we did at the Hampton Business District, architecturally, we’re going to follow a similar route, offering the foremost in technology and design of any industrial buildings on Long Island.”

The plans for the sizes of subsequent buildings at the property are yet to be determined, since the developers will offer build-to-suit construction.

“We imagine that will be determined by the demand,” Rechler told LIBN. “If someone calls us tomorrow or a year from now and wants a 500,000-square-foot building, we have the ability to build that for them.”

Rechler said he hopes to start construction on the first building this spring and expects it to be completed by the end of the year or early next year.

Leasing at the new Rechler Business District will be handled in-house by Ted Trias, the director of acquisitions and leasing for Rechler Equity Partners, who also represented the company in the purchase of the Medford property.

Ted Stratigos of Avison Young represented the sellers, the Toussie family, in the sale of the 73 acres.

“We finally have a site, on sewers that is zoned and ready to build and by combining that with Long Island’s largest and most experienced industrial developer, it represents a project which can come out of the ground immediately,” Stratigos said. “This is desperately needed in a time where there continues to be a tremendous appetite for industrial space fueled by the ongoing supply chain disruptions and increased consumer demand.”

Rechler Equity Partners is well aware of the strong demand for space amid Long Island’s very tight industrial real estate market. The company owns about 6.5 million square feet of industrial space with a current occupancy rate of 99.2 percent.

SOURCE: https://cibs-li.com/73-acre-land-deal-paves-way-for-new-industrial-park/