Long Island Cheat Sheet: RXR sells Woodbury office complex for $37M, Nassau and Suffolk home sales flatten … & more

<em>Clockwise from top left: State adopts 700-page environmental impact statement for $1.2 billion Belmont project, library to buy and refurbish convent for $16.85 million, pending Long Island home sales flatten in November and RXR Realty sells a Woodbury office complex for $37.4 million.</em>
Clockwise from top left: State adopts 700-page environmental impact statement for $1.2 billion Belmont project, library to buy and refurbish convent for $16.85 million, pending Long Island home sales flatten in November and RXR Realty sells a Woodbury office complex for $37.4 million.

RXR Realty sells Woodbury office complex for $37.4M
The Feil Organization, a Manhattan-based and family-owned real estate development firm, has agreed to pay $37.4 million to buy a six-building office complex in Woodbury from RXR Realty, according to Long Island Business News. The sale of the properties, which total 192,916 square feet of space, is part of a recently-adopted strategy by RXR to shed its suburban office properties. RXR and an affiliate, Australia-based Reckson New York Property Trust, sold 19 office buildings in Westchester County, New Jersey and Long Island throughout 2017. Jeffrey Dunne, Steven Bardsley and Travis Langer of CBRE’s Institutional Properties Group worked with colleague Philip Heilpern in the company’s Long Island office in representing RXR and procuring a buyer in Feil. [LIBN]

Pending Long Island home sales remain mostly flat in November
Pending home sales on Long Island had a mixed November with Suffolk County sales rising slightly, while Nassau’s fell when compared to the same period a year before, LIBN reported. In both counties, 2,310 homes were contracted for sale last month, a 1.3 percent drop from the 2,339 homes contracted for sale in November 2017. Pending sales in Nassau dropped 5.3 percent, from 1,001 in November 2017, to 949 last month. Suffolk, however, saw a slight 1.7 percent rise, from 1,338 in November 2017, to 1,361 last month. LIBN noted that home sales were relatively flat over the past 11 months when compared to the same period in 2017. Inventory has risen during that timeframe, more quickly in Nassau than Suffolk. There were 4,989 homes listed for sale in Nassau as of Dec. 7, which the outlet reported was a 15.1 percent increase from the 4,334 homes listed for sale in the county at the end of November 2017. Suffolk experienced only a 0.5 percent increase in inventory, going from 6,255 homes listed for for sale in November 2017 to 6,288 as of Friday. [LIBN]

EDC adopts 700-page environmental impact study for $1.2B Belmont Park project
The board of the Empire State Development Corporation unanimously adopted a nearly 700-age environmental impact study of the $1.2 billion Belmont Park arena and entertainment complex, Newsday reported. The project will be the future home of the New York Islanders hockey team, which earlier this month resumed playing regular season home games in Nassau. As noted by Newsday, the report found that the project “would not have the potential to result in significant adverse cumulative impacts other than in the area of transportation.” The Belmont Park project, which in June enlisted the efforts of a multinational law firm as general counsel to the EDC, will bring traffic challenges to the Cross Island Parkway and Hempstead Turnpike. When done, the complex will hold a 19,000-seat arena, 435,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, a movie theater and a 250-room hotel. There will be public hearings on the environmental impact of the project for three days starting on Jan. 8, according to Newsday, with written comments being accepted through Feb. 11. The Islanders hope to move into their new home in time for the 2021-22 season. [Newsday]

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Minimum bid of $51.2M required for auction of 13-building complex
The executors of the estate of Matrix Realty Group founder Glen Nelson, who died in a car accident three years ago this month, are working with Maltz Auctions to auction off a 13-building office complex in Hauppauge and Islandia, LIBN reported. Maltz, which will take sealed bids until Dec. 11, will hold a live auction with a minimum bid of $51.2 million on Dec. 18. There is also a $42.8 million assumable mortgage on the complex that runs through September 2025. Nelson suffered a fatal heart attack before crashing his Lamborghini into a utility pole in 2015. Frequent business partner Enrico Scarda, principal of The Crest Group, then became CEO of Matrix. Nelson’s relatives and his executors have frequently butted heads with Scarda, who is a partner in the complex and has made an offer on it, according to LIBN. Scarda, however, could still be outbid in the auction. [LIBN]

Bayport-Blue Point Library to buy and refurbish convent for $16.85M
Voters in Bayport and Blue Point voted by a 2-to-1 margin in favor of spending $16.85 million to buy a vacant convent and turn it into a public library, according to Newsday. The Bayport-Blue Point Public Library will buy the St. Ursula Center for $3.65 million and then spend another $13.2 million to refurbish the home for retired nuns. While doubling the size of the municipality’s current library, the plan will result in a tax hike for local homeowners, with each household experiencing an additional $228 in annual taxes. Library officials hope to close the convent purchase soon so they can start finding contractors for the project, whose renovation is expected to take two years and still requires the approval of the New York State Education Department. The convent’s owner, the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, put the property on the market in 2017. The Ursuline Sisters, some of whom are now holding estate sales at their longtime home, initially agreed to sell the convent to a Westhampton Beach-based drug rehabilitation center, but the latter pulled out of the deal due to opposition from some local residents. The money from the sale will be used to pay for the care of the nuns who lived in the convent. [Newsday]