Landlord perseveres in sluggish market

In a rental market that continues to be dreary for property owners, Rechler Equity Partners of Melville, Long Island's largest landlord of industrial space, managed in 2010 - for the second consecutive year - to lease more than one million square feet to businesses, mostly in Suffolk.

How? Well, rents for industrial property - about 80 percent of Rechler Equity's holdings - are down about 15 percent from a few years ago, said co-managing partner Mitchell Rechler. Broker Richard Cohen of Ashland Properties in Hauppauge, estimates industrial rents are down by about 25 percent. But deals are deals, and Cohen credits Rechler Equities with making them, and doing a bit better than many other industrial landlords on the Island.

Some of the bigger Rechler deals in 2010: a renewal with Bed, Bath & Beyond for 113,000 square feet in Farmingdale; a combination renewal and expansion for InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. of nearly 80,000 square feet at two buildings in Hauppauge, and 230,000 square feet for Global Tissue Group in Yaphank.

Rechler said about 90 percent of the company's holdings are now leased.

"The market is certainly not as strong today as it was three years ago," Rechler said. Nonetheless, he said, there are deals to be made at the right prices.

Rechler said the company expects to do "a fair amount" of business this year.

Cohen said he does not see an early improvement in the industrial sector of the property market.

"The economy is very tough on most of my customers," Cohen said. "Customers are nervous. They're nervous about the economy."