Northwell to acquire property of former Astoria Bank headquarters

Janelle Clausen
The former Astoria Bank headquarters, as seen here in a promotional flyer, will be acquired by Northwell Health. (Photo courtesy of Newmark Knight Frank)
The former Astoria Bank headquarters, as seen here in a promotional flyer, will be acquired by Northwell Health. (Photo courtesy of Newmark Knight Frank)

Northwell Health confirmed that it is “in contract” to acquire the former headquarters of Astoria Bank – which merged with Sterling Bancorp – on 1 Marcus Ave. in Lake Success on Tuesday, adding the building to a long list of properties Northwell owns in the area.

Terry Lynam, a spokesman for Northwell Health, said the health provider has been eying the property for more than a decade because of its close proximity to Northwell’s hospitals, ambulatory facilities and administrative buildings.

“We’ve had a long time interest in the property because of its proximity to Long Island Jewish Medical Center and other Northwell facilities,” Lynam said on Tuesday. “We have yet to formalize plans for what we’re going to be doing with the building or how it’s going to be developed, but the closing is scheduled for late April.”

“The priority was to acquire the property, but whether it’s going to be used for administrative or clinical purposes is yet to be determined,” Lynam added.

The three-story office building is about 103,000 square feet and sits on two lots totaling about 20 acres, according to the property listing.

Brian Lee of Newmark Knight Frank, who represented Sterling in the sale, said they were in contract and could not comment on what the final sale price was without authorization.

But, Lee said, there was “a lot of interest in the property” given that it is 20 acres of land near New York City, next to a highway, and has a large building with room for development.

“It’s probably the last not fully developed property in Lake Success on a large parcel,” Lee said.

Long Island Business News, citing “industry sources,” reported that the sale price was around $36 million.

Blue Sky Real Estate Services, a real estate company founded by former Northwell chief physical assets officer Philip Silverman in 2017, represented Northwell Health in the purchase.

Sterling Bancorp and Astoria Financial Corp. completed their $2.2 billion merger in October last year. The combined company now uses the Sterling Bancorp name, with its subsidiaries operating as Sterling National Bank.

Share this Article