Long Island Cheat Sheet: Median home prices rise year-over-year, Mattress Firm seeks tax breaks … & more

Long Island’s median home price increases over October 2017
The median home price on Long Island closed at $465,000 in October, a 5.7 percent increase over the same time in 2017, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island. The residential data includes Nassau and Suffolk counties, as well as Queens. Nassau’s median home price for October closed at $525,000, a 5.2 percent increase over October 2017. Suffolk’s median price closed at $389,360, an 8.2 percent increase over the $359,999 median price from the same period a year ago. Last month, there were 17,340 homes in available residential inventory, a 10.8 percent increase from 2017. [MLSLI]

Uniondale Marriott sold by Starwood Capital Group
Navika Capital Group, a real estate investment company, bought a 615-room Marriott hotel in Uniondale from Starwood Capital Group for an undisclosed sum, according to Newsday. Navika Capital, a subsidiary of Royal Blue Hospitality LLC, is headquartered nearby. The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency consented to the sale. In 2014, the IDA gave two decades of tax breaks so the hotel could undergo $25 million in renovations. Starwood Capital bought the Marriott for $66.2 million in 2014 from Charles Wang, a founder of Computer Associates International and former owner of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders. Wang, who died in October, had to sell the hotel when he couldn’t make debt payments and lenders filed for foreclosure. [Newsday]

Bethpage retail property to be sold at bankruptcy auction
A Bethpage retail center once home to the now-defunct H.R. Singletons of embattled restaurateur Harendra Singh will be auctioned off on Nov. 29 in a U.S. bankruptcy court in Central Islip, according to Long Island Business News. The sale will be conducted by Maltz Auctions. LIBN reported that Rajesh Singh, a physician and father of Harendra Singh, bought the 30,000-square-foot property in 1985 and bought out his former partners four years later. Rajesh Singh left the property to Harendra Singh, who filed for bankruptcy in April. The two-building property has 267 feet of frontage on Hicksville Road and another 60 feet along the Hempstead Turnpike. [LIBN]

Bankrupt Mattress Firm seeks Nassau County tax breaks
Mattress Firm, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in October, has applied to get additional tax breaks from Nassau County in exchange for keeping its workforce at an office and warehouse in Hicksville, Newsday reported. The site was the headquarters of Sleepy’s, which Mattress Firm bought for $780 million in late 2015. The combined company then assumed the remainder of a 10-year deal that reduced property taxes on a 450,000-square-foot building owned by local developer Steel Equities. That deal expires on Jan. 1. The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency agreed to negotiate with Mattress Firm on the tax breaks. The company, in exchange, promised to make $500,000 in improvements to the building and preserve some jobs. [Newsday]

24 Best Market stores on Long Island sold to German grocery chain
German discount grocer Lidl plans to buy and convert 27 Best Market stores throughout New York and New Jersey, according to Newsday. Financial terms of the deal, which has not yet been finalized, were not disclosed. Bethpage-based Best Market, founded in 1994, has 24 stores across Long Island, including establishments in Commack, Merrick and New Hyde Park. Lidl will also take over three Best Market locations in Manhattan, Queens and Holmdel, New Jersey. The conversions will begin in early 2019. Best Market has another store in Newington, Connecticut, is not part of the Lidl deal. [Newsday]