Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: RMC pays $487.5M for Mack-Cali portfolio, historic Bronxville mansion returns to market… & more

<em>Clockwise from top left: A historic Bronxville mansion hits the market for $5.395M, Mack-Cali unloads a 56-building portfolio to an affiliate of the Robert Martin Company for $487.5M, bankrupt women's clothing retailer Charlotte Russe to leave behind empty storefronts in Westchester and Fairfield malls (credit: Corey Coyle) and FujiFilm signs a lease for 3,976 square feet of space in Trumbull.</em>
Clockwise from top left: A historic Bronxville mansion hits the market for $5.395M, Mack-Cali unloads a 56-building portfolio to an affiliate of the Robert Martin Company for $487.5M, bankrupt women's clothing retailer Charlotte Russe to leave behind empty storefronts in Westchester and Fairfield malls (credit: Corey Coyle) and FujiFilm signs a lease for 3,976 square feet of space in Trumbull.

Mack-Cali sells $487.5M portfolio to Westchester developer
Jersey City-based real estate investment trust Mack-Cali Realty has agreed to unload a 56-building office and residential portfolio to an affiliate of the Robert Martin Company (RMC) as the seller continues to shift its focus from Westchester and Fairfield counties to its home state of New Jersey, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. The $487.5 million deal for roughly 3.1 million square feet of space includes industrial parks developed by Mack-Cali between the 1970s and 1990s, LoHud reported. Some of the properties included in the sale are the Cross Westchester Executive Park in Elmsford, the Mid-Westchester Executive Park in Hawthorne, the South Westchester Executive Park in Yonkers, the Stamford Executive Park in Stamford and a restaurant building in Tarrytown, RMC said in a statement. The Elmsford-based acquirer is one of the oldest real estate firms in Westchester. Mack-Cali, meanwhile, has been refocusing its real estate investments on waterfront office and multifamily properties in New Jersey. The company intends to use the proceeds from its sale to RMC to pay down debt and acquire an apartment community in Jersey City, Mack-Cali CEO Michael DeMarco told the FBJ. Mack-Cali sold the Elmsford Distribution Center in Greenburgh for $70.1 million in January and the Westchester Financial Center in White Plains for $83 million last year. [FBJ]

Historic Bronxville mansion hits market again at $5.4M
A Gothic Revival mansion that the Bronxville Historical Conservancy considers one of the village’s “oldest and finest homes” is now on the market for almost $5.4 million, LoHud reported. “The Crow’s Nest,” located at 50 Crows Nest Road, was designed as a stone cottage for Hudson River School painter Francis Edwards in the mid-1800s, but new owners renovated later that century it into a “Gilded Age mansion ready for entertaining,” according to the outlet. Property records show that the 1.3-acre estate first hit the market in early 2018 seeking $6.9 million. The approximately 11,000-square-foot home has nine bedrooms, 12-foot ceilings, “glorious original woodwork everywhere,” original Tiffany windows in the front entrance and an “actual Crow’s Nest” tower that houses an artist studio on its top floor, according to LoHud. Rita Steinkamp and Sheila Morrissey Stoltz of Houlihan Lawrence have the listing. [LoHud]

Arizona investor bids $18.53M for Time Nyack Hotel
Juniper Time Investor LLC, a unit of Scottsdale, Arizona-based real estate investment firm IMH Financial, is seeking to be the new owner of the Time Nyack Hotel in Rockland County, LoHud reported. The IMF affiliate bid $18.53 million for the “embattled” hotel in an auction, according to the outlet, which last summer chronicled the 133-room Time Nyack’s descent into bankruptcy amid claims of financial impropriety involving a former manager. Juniper beat out Iowa-based Hawkeye Hotels, which bid $15 million for the Time Nyack. IMH “maintains high-end luxury boutique hotels and resorts” throughout the U.S. and Canada, including facilities in Sonoma, California, and Sedona, Arizona. LoHud reported that Time Nyack’s current owner, EMC Hotels and Resorts, is also in the middle of its own bankruptcy case. EMC, however, could end up holding onto the four-story hotel in Nyack if it offers a restructuring plan that is better than IMH’s bid, one of Time Nyack’s minority investors told the outlet. [LoHud]

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Charlotte Russe to close stores in Westchester, Fairfield malls
Bankrupt women’s clothing chain Charlotte Russe is closing all of its stores — including several in Westchester and Fairfield counties, the Westchester County Business Journal reported. The San Diego-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 protection in February and has announced liquidation sales at all 512 of its stores. Outposts at the Danbury Fair, Stamford Town Center, Westfield Trumbull, Galleria White Plains and Jefferson Valley malls will all be shuttering, according to the outlet. Private equity firm Advent International bought Charlotte Russe for $380 million in 2009. The company mulled an initial public offering, but reportedly didn’t end up moving forward with a listing due to a drop in sales. [WBJ]

FujiFilm signs lease for nearly 4K square feet in Trumbull
An office/flex building in Trumbull has a new tenant. FujiFilm North America Group has inked a lease for 3,976 square feet of space at 204 Spring Hill Road, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. Trefoil Park Properties LLC is the landlord for the 40,705-square-foot building, which was built in 1990. “There is only one space left in this building that is available for lease,” Angel Commercial president Jon Angel, who represented Trefoil Park, told the outlet. A team from CBRE Group led by David Block, Paul Myers and Joe Weaver represented FujiFilm in the transaction. FujiFilm, a Japanese film and photography giant that has thrived despite its primary U.S. rival Kodak Group crumbling, is reportedly relocating from Norwalk. [FBJ]

Peekskill to get 9-story, market-rate apartment complex
A new market-rate apartment development is coming to Peekskill, LoHud reported. Long Island City-based Alma Realty, which is led by developer Efstathios “Steve” Valiotis, plans to build a nine-story, 181-unit building called One Park Place between Park, St. James, Broad and Brown streets, according to the outlet. The development will include a public park, more than 300 below-ground parking spaces and an outdoor terrace with dining space. The project has already secured the city’s approval and is expected to draw “a lot of new residents” to downtown Peekskill, city planning director Jean Friedman told LoHud. It wasn’t immediately clear what size apartments will be offered or how much they will rent for. [LoHud]