Global firm closes on $12.6M purchase of Yaphank development site

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A global investment firm has closed on its acquisition of a parcel of vacant land in Yaphank where it plans to develop a $45 million logistics center. 

Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Fund (AIREF), a subsidiary of Ares Management Corporation, purchased 25.6 acres of industrial-zoned land for $12.6 million. The wooded property is bordered by the Long Island Rail Road to the north, Station Road to the west and the sports complex Baseball Heaven to the east. 

The Town of Brookhaven approved the developer’s plan to construct a 332,970-square-foot warehouse and distribution building and trucking terminal at the site last summer. The project would include about 24,000 square feet of offices, 64 loading bays and parking for 345 vehicles, according to its application. 

In February, the Brookhaven Planning Board approved another AIREF project in North Bellport. That plan would bring four warehouses totaling about 528,000 square feet to a 52-acre site on the east side of Station Road, south of Woodside Avenue and north of Sunrise Highway. 

AIREF is seeking economic incentives from the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency for both of its Long Island projects. 

Founded in 1997, Ares Management has more than 2,900 employees in 35 offices around the world, according to its website. The corporation has more than $428 billion of assets under management.  

Gary Chimeri and Luciano Oliverio of Paramount Properties Group represented the buyer, as well as the seller, NMF Properties, in the Yaphank sales transaction. The brokers also handled the sale of the property in North Bellport. 

“This was a three-plus-year battle to close,” Chimeri told LIBN. “From civic opposition to a log jam of new development for local municipalities, the gold rush for as-of-right zoned industrial land has been an interesting ride. I believe that market opportunity has now shifted back to the end-user.”