BJ's Wholesale Club Coming to E. Garden City

Metropolitan Realty Associates announced today that it has obtained a $36.72 million loan from Mesa West Capital to convert a 335,000-square-foot commercial building at 711 Stewart Avenue in E. Garden City to a mixed-use project including retail, medical office and office.

Upon completion, retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club will occupy 121,000 square feet of the repositioned property, which has been renamed Garden City Square.

Jericho-based Metropolitan Realty Associates and its long-time equity partner, Angelo, Gordon & Co., LP, acquired the office building for $15 million, or less than $45 per square foot, through a note acquisition and subsequent negotiated transfer of the deed in May 2010.

The site covers more than 17 acres adjacent to Roosevelt Field Mall. The property was 43 percent occupied at the time of the acquisition.

CB Richard Ellis brokers Keith Braddish, Mark Fisher and Jason Gaccione arranged the first mortgage loan from Mesa West Capital, a privately held commercial real estate lender based in Los Angeles. Terms of the loan were undisclosed.

“Mesa West Capital understands that this property will be far more valuable as a part of the regional retail cluster already established by the mall next door. For this reason and the recently executed long-term lease by BJ’s Wholesale Club, they were very aggressive in pursuing and closing the transaction,” said Garden City resident Joseph Farkas, president of Metropolitan Realty Associates, who also noted that new retail tenant interest is significant and an additional two-story retail anchor is expected to be announced shortly.  

Built in 1947 as the General Bronze Corp. manufacturing plant and later used by Grumman to assemble components of Air Force jets, the building had been successfully redeveloped in 1984 into a mixed-use commercial facility including office, retail and medical office tenancies.