Metropolitan Realty, Morgan Stanley Snap Up LIC Industrial Property for $106M
By Cathy Cunningham June 7, 2022 10:09 am
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MANA Products has sold its 220,000-square-foot industrial asset at 27-11 49th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, to Metropolitan Realty Associates (MRA) and Morgan Stanley (MS) Real Estate Investing for $105.5 million, Commercial Observer has learned.
The sale-leaseback deal closed last week, and was led by CBRE (CBRE)’s Doug Middleton and Will Pike.
MANA Products, a developer and manufacturer of beauty and skin care products, uses the facility — which sits on 2.48 acres and houses 615 employees — as its mission-critical manufacturing and distribution facility.
The company was acquired by Traub Capital in 2020.
Under the terms of the transaction, MANA executed a 15-year triple-net lease at closing with three five-year renewal options, underscoring the firm’s long-term commitment to this site, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Thanks to its extensive research and development capabilities, the company also acts as an incubator and provides leading beauty brands — including Estée Lauder, MAC, Glossier and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty — plus makeup artists and celebrities with the latest innovations in both formulation and technology. Further, MANA owns 95 percent of its formulas today.
With ease of connectivity to both Manhattan and Brooklyn, the property is in a prime location to distribute goods on behalf of its clients.
The deal is the latest of several Queens purchases for MRA. In August 2021, founder Joseph Farkas told CO the firm had raised $50 million of equity for a strategic investment fund focused on Long Island industrial assets, and already acquired a fully leased 94,000-square-foot warehouse, to boot.
The fund’s inaugural transaction involved the purchase of a single-story industrial property at 5 Inez Drive in Bay Shore, N.Y., alongside longtime MRA equity partner Angelo Gordon for $14 million. The warehouse property is currently occupied by national logistics and fulfillment company Ruby Has through April 2025.
In March, the same joint venture secured a $19.1 million loan from IDB Bank for the refinancing of an approximately 220,000-square-foot, two-story retail property in Nanuet, N.Y., Commercial Observer has learned.
MANA officials could not immediately be reached for comment. MRA and Morgan Stanley weren’t immediately available for comment. A CBRE spokesperson declined to comment.
Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.
