PC Richard to double up in Farmingdale

As Seen in Long Island Business News June 17, 2005 by DAWN WOTAPKA HARDESTY

FARMINGDALE – As it competes with national appliance sellers claiming more and more Long Island turf, homegrown appliance chain PC Richard & Son is poised to increase its warehouse space by more than a quarter.

The company is negotiating to acquire a 300,000-square-foot building at 105 Price Parkway – one of only 10 buildings of that size across Long Island – across the street from its 650,000-square-foot headquarters.

“It’s gonna happen,” Gary Richard, the 95-year-old family-owned company’s CEO. “Instead of moving our operation to New Jersey, we would like to stay on Long Island.”

It is unclear what will happen to the site’s current tenant, Natural Science Industries Ltd., a designer of youth wares such as temporary tattoos with rhinestones, a “talking skeleton” and magic tricks, according to an archived Web site.

Andrew Glanz, a top toy executive who said his title is “irrelevant,” wouldn’t comment. Rechler Equity Partners, identified as the building owner, and Richie Cohen with Ashlind Properites, who is representing both sides, also declined to comment.

If purchased or leased, the new space will feed PC Richard’s 49 showrooms – 20 of them in Nassau and Suffolk counties. (A 40,000-square-foot Commack store is slated to open in November.) The company will be able to buy more products and likely pass the savings on to customers. The space will also enhance customer delivery by providing “more elbow room” for about 100 new employees, Richard said.

“We’re always growing,” he said. “Our products keep growing. It’s more products than we can handle.”

The company has 300,000 square feet of warehouse space in Whippany, N.J., 150,000 square feet in Deer Park and 600,000 square feet at the Price Parkway headquarters – one of the Island’s 10 single-user warehouse spaces 300,000 square feet or bigger, said Jack O’Connor, a principal at Newmark Real Estate of Long Island.

The average warehouse deal is between 25,000 and 40,000 square feet, he said. A potential transaction many times that size had brokers buzzing.

“Deals of this magnitude don’t come along that often,” O’Connor said.

Douglas A. Omstrom, a senior director with Corporate National Realty LLC in Woodbury, agreed.

“Anything over 100,000 is big. Anything over 200,000 is huge,” he said. “There’s not that many buildings that big on Long Island.”

For that reason – and because PC Richard officials could walk between the cavernous buildings in a minute or two – several industry sources predict PC Richard will pay a premium for the building. One put the purchase price tag at up to $110 per square foot, or roughly $33 million.

Richard said he couldn’t comment on the price.

PC Richard isn’t the only appliance giant eyeing Price Parkway.

At the nearby intersection of Price Parkway and Route 110, Lowe’s – the nation’s second largest appliance retailer with more than 250 models in each store – plans a 143,000-square-foot retail and garden shop to open next summer. The rapidly-growing North Carolina company has said it aims to bulk up its Long Island store count.

Also growing locally is Atlanta-based Home Depot. The nation’s top handyman chain has 21 Island stores with another 115,000-square-foot location planned for Smithtown early next year.

It makes sense “to be in the Long Island area,” said Home Depot spokesman Yancey Casey. “It must obviously be a good business for us.”

About the increased competition, Richard said: “I have no connection with Home Depot or Lowe’s. I’m not storing their merchandise.”

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