Cushman & Wakefield Arranges Sale of Hofstra's Twin Oaks Apts

9 Dec, 2010, Hempstead, N.Y.

Commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. has arranged the sale of Twin Oaks Apartments in Hempstead, from Hofstra University to Conifer Realty, LLC. Conifer specializes in the development, construction and management of high-quality, affordable housing communities; the company, in a collaboration with state, county and local government, will redevelop the property into 94 state-of-the-art rental units.

David Leviton of Cushman & Wakefield's Melville, N.Y., office, and Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel and Jared Zimmel of the company's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group in East Rutherford, N.J., orchestrated the sale.

Twin Oaks Apartments, located on Hempstead Turnpike, since the early 1980s had served as student housing for Hofstra but had become surplus space when it built new on-campus accommodations. The university retained Cushman & Wakefield in 2007 to market it and an adjacent small office building for sale.

"This project was unique in several aspects, including the property's use and the timing of the offering," Leviton said. "We came online just before the market crash, which ultimately delayed finding the perfect buyer. In the interim, Twin Oaks went from occupied to vacant. We are pleased that it soon will return as a vibrant residential property - and one that fulfills a real need in this community."

According to Andrew Crossed, Conifer's executive vice president, the project will serve local working families earning 60 percent or less of the Area Median Income. "Providing affordable housing in land-constrained Nassau County is a challenge - there simply are few opportunities," he said. "This project is a public-private venture that really will benefit Hempstead."

Conifer will launch a total gut rehab of the Twin Oaks Apartments, gutting the building's entire interior. According to Crossed, the project adds to Conifer's Long Island presence, where it already owns a number of properties. The company is one of the nation's largest owners of affordable housing, with involvement in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Conifer currently owns and manages more than 11,000 multi-family units in 170 apartment communities.

Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group specializes exclusively in investment sales of office, industrial, multifamily and retail properties throughout New Jersey, New York, Fairfield County, Conn., and Pennsylvania. The team has completed more than $13.8 billion worth of transactions since 2000. Merin and Bernhaut, who co-founded and head the Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, also oversee eastern regional activities for a new Cushman & Wakefield group that advises clients on corporate property dispositions throughout the United States.

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