Sam Shalem has made a big bet on big box in Riverhead.
Shalem’s Prestige Properties & Development acquired the Riverhead Centre at 1430-1550 Old Country Road — also known as Route 58 — for $69 million, Behind the Hedges reported. The seller was AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust.
The deal for the shopping center closed a month ago and was announced in late April by JLL Capital Markets, but the price wasn’t disclosed until Suffolk County deed transfers became available last week.
The nine-building shopping center spans 395,000 square feet. It’s anchored by a ShopRite supermarket, which in 2017 signed a long-term lease and opened the following year in a space vacated by Waldbaums in 2015.
Other major tenants include Petco, Michaels, Home Depot and DSW Shoe Warehouse. The shopping center is 99 percent leased, although one tenant is the bankrupt Bed Bath & Beyond. National retailers account for 82 percent of tenants at the 50-acre property.
A JLL team led by Jose Cruz arranged the sale. PNC Realty Investors advised the seller. No financing was involved in the transaction.
The complex, just east of the end of the Long Island Expressway, is in the middle of a three-mile stretch of Old Country Road dominated by shopping centers and big-box stores including Target and Walmart. Retail activity is strongest on the western half of it, which begins with a Tanger outlet.
On the eastern end of the strip, a cavity created when Walmart relocated in 2014 to the western end remained until a wholesaler leased the space in 2021.
Shalem’s company, which specializes in retail assets, has more than 6.5 million square feet in its retail portfolio. Much of it is in the tri-state area, though Prestige also has properties in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida.
The sale is easily the largest commercial transaction on the East End this year and comes close to the priciest of last year, the $78.5 million sale of the 96-room Marram Montauk boutique hotel.
This year’s most notable commercial transaction in the East End prior to the Riverhead Centre sale was Bernard Arnault’s $22 million purchase of 1 Main Street in East Hampton. Arnault may choose to locate one of his conglomerate’s many brands at the 5,000-square-foot corner property.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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