Metropolitan Realty Associates breaks ground on 161,000 s/f office building

Islip town supervisor Philip Nolan and other Islip officials joined Joseph Farkas, president of Garden City-based Metropolitan Realty Associates LLC as ground was broken for a 161,000 s/f office building at the Sunrise Business Center in Great River. "This is an important day for the Sunrise Business Center, Metropolitan Realty Associates and its partners, the Great River community and the Town of Islip," Farkas said at the ceremony marking the start of construction of the 300 Building at the 388,500 s/f complex at 3500 Sunrise Hwy. The new office building is being constructed at the site of a former Grumman Corp. warehouse at the sprawling complex, which includes two existing office buildings. Now enclosed by corrugated metal, the existing warehouse will be re-skinned with a glass curtain wall and metal and glass panels to give it a contemporary appearance. A second floor and two-story atrium entrance will be added. "When my partners and I acquired these buildings 18 months ago, we saw a tremendous opportunity here that was untapped," Farkas told those gathered for the ceremony. "In that short time we've be able to create value and attract and retain so many important tenants." Farkas credited a 15-year property-tax-abatement program provided by the Town of Islip's Industrial Development Agency to Sunrise as well as its location in an Empire Development Zone for the leasing success of the complex. "It's really those incentives that made it possible," he said, acknowledging the efforts of Nolan, the Islip town board and William Mannix, executive director of the Islip Industrial Development Agency. Farkas added that a private/public partnership, such as the one formed between Metropolitan and the Town of Islip, should be a model for future development in the continuing efforts to build business, create jobs and secure the future of hard working families here on Long Island. "The town board and myself are watching a miracle unfurl," Nolan said, calling Farkas "a guy with rare vision." Nolan said Farkas "has assembled a great team that has shown excellent results." Joining Nolan at the groundbreaking were Islip town board members Gene Parrington, Christopher Bodkin and Steven Flotteron and the IDA's Mannix. Farkas was joined in the ceremonies by executives of Angelo, Gordon & Co., the New York City-based investment management firm that is Metropolitan's partner in the project. They were Adam Schwartz, managing director for real estate investments at Angelo, Gordon, and Ronen Katz, an associate director at the investment firm. Salvatore Ferrara, of Combined Resources Consulting and Design Inc., the architect of the new building, and Nick Kumbotivic and Robert Wilkonson of Cameron Engineering, the engineers of the new building also participated. Since acquiring the building, formerly the Long Island Business and Technology Center, in 2006, Metropolitan has signed new leases and expansions at Sunrise Business Center totaling more than 80,000 s/f, more than half of that since the beginning of 2008. Leases for additional space are awaiting approvals. Among the tenants at the complex's 100 and 200 Buildings are Netsmart Technologies, T-Mobile, Verizon, Metro Door, Aetna Life Insurance Co., A-C Tel, Hearst Business Media, Lessings Inc. Citizen's Bank and Schoenfeld Securities.