Herko, Lorenzo, Zamechansky, and Scotto of NAI Friedland lease 7,543 s/f

NAI Friedland Realty, together with Colliers ABR Inc., completed a 20-year lease for 7,543 s/f to Walgreens at 1800 Williamsbridge Rd., occupying part of the ground floor. Robin Herko, Steve Lorenzo, Kathy Zamechansky and David Scotto at NAI Friedland Realty represented Walgreens. NAI Friedland Realty has been working with Walgreens for the past six years in their endeavor to expand throughout the five boroughs and Westchester County. Craig Evans, Colliers ABR (operating as Cassidy Turley as of March 1), represented the landlord. "The decision for Walgreens to open a new store is reflective of the continued trend of expansion by strong retailers using the current market to expand at favorable rates," said Craig Evans, senior managing director at Colliers ABR. Walgreens plans to expand the building by 3,600 s/f of space, expand the parking lot and will also enhance the landscaping. The Citibank branch will continue to occupy the other half of the building that faces Morris Park Ave. "1800 Williamsbridge Rd. fit perfectly within a target area of our expansion plans for Walgreens," said Herko, executive VP at NAI Friedland Realty. "The location is ideal and complete with parking for the customer's shopping convenience." "A combination of rezoning issues and site plan approvals proved to be a challenge, and meant we had to get creative with the transaction," Herko said. In addition to representing the tenant, the brokers at Friedland played a critical role in working with the developer to get approvals from and the Bronx borough president's office and appropriate community board to complete the project. Walgreens is one of the nation's largest drugstore chains and the company operates 7,147 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.