Newmark Selected to Lease and Manage Briarcliff Office Campus

BRIARCLIFF MANOR—Newmark reports it has been retained by the new ownership of 555 Pleasantville Road,  as the exclusive leasing agent and property manager for the office complex.

The property has been recently sold to a joint venture between Saber Real Estate Advisors, Tarrytown Partners and GHC Development. USI Insurance was a major tenant at the property.

Newmark’s Executive Managing Director Glenn Walsh and Senior Managing Director Lawrence Ruggieri have been hired to lease the six-building suburban corporate center that features approximately 100,000 square feet of available office space for lease.

The joint venture plans to revitalize the property for long-term ownership, and intends to undertake extensive renovations to the assets, including upgrades to the elevators, HVAC, bathrooms and common areas, cafeteria, conference center and fitness center. The campus offers features that will appeal to tenants in a post-COVID environment, including direct entry to several tenant spaces, high-performance air filtration, and the incorporation of upgrades, including touchless points in bathrooms and common areas, Newmark states.

“As the new ownership, we are committed to bringing this campus back to the beautiful quality that it once was,” said Martin Berger, Managing Member of Saber Real Estate Advisors. “We have the wherewithal and dedication to fund the necessary capital improvements, the commitment to make decisions for an efficient leasing process, and the consistency of onsite personnel with Newmark’s best-in-class property management and leasing teams.”

The office space available at the property can be delivered vacant and can accommodate tenants as small as 1,890 square feet. It is ideal for life sciences, education, or non-profit tenants, ownership states.

“The ownership team is breathing new life into this stunning campus,” said Newmark’s Walsh. “With an aggressive pricing structure and lease terms, commitment to prebuilt space, and quality upgrades planned, the group’s pride of ownership will be on display for any tenant seeking unique, quality office space in a beautiful setting.”

555 Pleasantville Road is located on a 15.3-acre site. The low-rise North and South Office Buildings form the central core of the wooded complex, which also features a free-standing, two-story, 12,830-square-foot conference center, 6,078-square-foot Tudor mansion and a 1,500-square-foot educational/training facility.

The complex is situated minutes from Pleasantville and Chappaqua and proximate to Pace University and the Rockefeller State Park Preserve at Pocantico Hills. The complex is easily accessed via the Pleasantville Road exit of the Taconic State Parkway, the Saw Mill River Parkway and Route 9A. The campus offers a 15-minute commute from White Plains and a 45-minute drive to Manhattan.

According to Newmark Research, the Westchester County office market finished 2021 in a stable position despite continued disruption from the Omicron variant. Leasing activity in 2021 reached 2.0 million square feet, on par with the county’s pre-pandemic five-year annual average from 2015 to 2019. Demand during the fourth quarter reached a post-pandemic high of 542,000 square feet. Improved leasing resulted in positive net absorption of 153,750 square feet during the fourth quarter, pushing the overall availability rate down 60 basis points from the prior quarter.