Wildflower, Barings Land $72M Construction Loan for Long Island Industrial Project
By Cathy Cunningham June 27, 2023 12:54 pm
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Finally, some good news!
A brand-new industrial development in Yaphank, N.Y., is officially ready to rise, having locked down $72 million in construction financing— choppy debt markets be damned.
Bank OZK (OZK) provided the financing for the development of Brookhaven Logistics Center, a three-building project being developed by Wildflower and Barings in the Long Island hamlet, Commercial Observer has learned.
Walker & Dunlop’s Aaron Appel, Keith Kurland, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Ari Hirt and Mo Beler negotiated the debt, marking the latest stage of the firm’s involvement in the development. The same team previously raised limited-partner equity from Barings for the deal.
The construction financing closed on June 21.
When completed, the Class A project at 1001 Express Drive North will comprise 555,000 square feet. At 72 acres, Brookhaven Logistics Center’s development site is the largest industrial-zoned vacant property along the Long Island Expressway.
In addition to the construction loan from Bank OZK, the project’s developers also recently locked down a package of economic incentives from the Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency (Brookhaven IDA) for its construction.
The new development is in good company, and sits in the industrial corridor hot spot of south-central Suffolk.
Warehouse and distribution facilities in Brookhaven represent just over 10 percent of the total inventory of Suffolk County, with demand in the region “exceptional” over the past few years on the heels of a pandemic-fueled surge in demand from e-commerce retailers for industrial space and the growth of last-mile delivery, according to a report by the Brookhaven IDA, citing CoStar Group data. As such, vacancies in the area are now down to the low single digits, the report states.
And, Manhattan-based Wildflower, led by Adam Gordon, is no stranger to industrial development. The firm, also known for its film studio investments, has quite a few logistics projects in the hopper at the moment, including Medford Logistics Center, a Class A industrial warehouse in Medford, N.Y., and College Point Logistics Center in Queens.
The Walker & Dunlop team arranged $24.5 million and $94 million in financing for those two projects, respectively, with the Brookhaven transaction now representing Walker & Dunlop’s 12th deal with Wildflower.
Officials at Wildflower declined to comment. Bank OZK and Barings officials didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.
