TBS Brokerage Services

Real Estate Weekly, March 29, 2000

TBS Brokerage Services ("Triad") recently arranged the sale of 1043 Madison Avenue, NYC, and the acquisition-in-exchange of an 11,200 square-foot free-standing Eckerd Drug store in Zephyrhills, Florida. Both transactions were all cash on behalf of Fedjo Realty Corporation. Henry A. Berliss, director of TBS Financial Services, concluded both transactions.

1043 Madison Avenue, a five-story building located along the prime Madison Avenue retail corridor, sold for $2.4 million. Cor-Dan Brokers represented the investor-user furniture dealer-who was attracted to the property as a result of the vacant store and third floor.

Immediately subsequent to the closing, Triad, in cooperation with Jerry Merzon of The Merron Company, completed a 1031 exchange by acquiring the Eckerd Drug store. The one-year old property is leased to the tenant for a remaining 19 years, with market-driven rent step-ups every five years. Berliss believes that, "This investment is an excellent opportunity for Fedjo. The Eckerd lease includes an initial rent which is competitive with other Eckerd store leases that typically provide for flat rents over the twenty-year initial terms. However, the subject lease provides for rent adjustments every five years, thereby affording the owners a considerable investment advantage in the ever-improving Tampa-Orlando corridor".

The law firm of Cooperman Levitt Winikoff Lester & Newman, PC represented Fedjo Realty.