Merin, Bernhaut, Gabriel, Whitmer, Dowd and Pennetta of Cushman & Wakefield sell St. John’s University campus - $22.4 million

Helen Hwang, Cushman & Wakefield

Karen Wiedenmann, Helen Hwang, Cushman & Wakefield

Andrew Merin, Cushman & Wakefield

David Bernhaut, Helen Hwang, Cushman & Wakefield

St. John’s University, 500 Montauk Highway - Oakdale, NY

Oakdale, NY Cushman & Wakefield has sold St. John’s University’s 170-acre campus to Amity University, a non-profit international educational organization, for $22.4 million. The campus, located on Long Island’s Great South Bay in Suffolk County, includes 11 buildings totaling 260,000 s/f. The deal enables St. John’s to continue offering its existing academic programs under a lease agreement through June 2017 as Amity University assumes control of the property immediately.

A capital markets team including Helen Hwang and Karen Wiedenmann, formerly of Cushman & Wakefield, and members of the firm’s metropolitan area capital markets group – Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian Whitmer, Ryan Dowd and David Pennetta – headed the assignment.

“St. John’s was pleased to sell this historic and spectacular property to another academic institution, and we are excited to welcome this new international university to the area,” Whitmer said.

“We are proud to have been able to assist St. John’s with another assignment and happy that the deal included that St. John’s will be able to continue on site as they explore relocation options,” said Hwang.

Located on the Great South Bay at 500 Montauk Hwy., the property was originally the waterfront estate for Frederick Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Co. It also previously served for many years as the site of LaSalle Military Academy, which ultimately became a kindergarten-through-high school global learning community. St. John’s purchased the property in 1998 and invested $10 million in renovating classrooms, laboratories and other buildings there. The campus is highlighted by the original Georgian mansion built in 1897. The grounds include bay views, walkways, brick walls, hedges, and lawns.

Based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group specializes exclusively in investment sales of office, industrial, multifamily and retail properties throughout New Jersey, New York, Fairfield County, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The team has completed more than $17 billion worth of transactions since 2000, closing over $2 billion in sales to date in 2016.