Newsday - December 11, 2021
Damianos Realty Group LLC, a commercial landlord in Suffolk County, spent $24.5 million buying 150 Motor Parkway in Hauppauge, a 200,000 square-foot office building with a fitness center and café.
The firm closed on the deal with UA Properties LLC, the former owner, Wednesday night, Damianos Realty Group principal X. Cristofer Damianos said. The four-story building was constructed in 1984 and needs modernized hallways, elevators and bathrooms, as well as upgraded mechanical systems, according to Damianos. Its rundown state is precisely what appealed to the real estate company, Damianos said.
"We would rather buy the building that's got a big vacancy and needs a lot of work," said Damianos. "Then we can shape it."
Damianos Realty Group said half of the building is leased by tenants, including the Ingerman Smith law firm; the Suffolk County Dental Society, a trade group; and the Association for a Better Long Island, an organization representing regional business interests.
The worn condition of the building, not COVID, was what kept it so empty, according to Damianos, who said the company isn't changing how it approaches renovations because of the pandemic. But the firm, which now owns 10 buildings in Smithtown totaling roughly 700,000 square feet, will use higher-grade air filters, increase air flow and set up sanitizing stations, as it has done in its other buildings, Damianos said.
"How are companies going to deal with, for instance, size of cubicles, spacing of cubicles? No one's really figured that out yet," he said. "There's no reason for us to jump to certain things … until we see what direction the world is going."
By Sarina Trangle