Rockland is Poised for Growth as Relocation Prospects Take Notice of Affordable Rents

SPRING VALLEY, NY-The Rockland County Economic Development Corp. held a virtual real estate tour of available commercial office and industrial properties entitled “Rockland Right Now” and featured developers and commercial real estate brokers from the area who forecasted the county’s future.

At the conference, Maryann Small, director of business development for the REDC, noted that Intercos America Inc. is now trying to hire 139 employees for its cosmetics manufacturing plant at 202 North 303 in Congers. The company, headquartered in Milan, Italy, has purchased the 103,000 sf building from SONY, who operated its MRC division (formerly Materials Research Co.) at the building.

Small said that Intercos, a contract cosmetics manufacturer, will close on its $9.4-million bond financing deal with the Rockland Industrial Development Agency in the next four or five weeks. The company has taken title on the building via bridge financing, she adds.

Other recent deals in Rockland of note include: Bausche & Lombe Pharmaceutical, which is occupying 40,000 sf of space at Clarkstown Executive Park in Valley Cottage. Small relates that Bousche & Lombe had considered moving the operation it purchased from Wyeth Ayerst to Tampa, FL. She also notes that Fujitsu Network Communications recently expanded for the third time since it opened its Rockalnd County offices at Mack-Cali’s Blue Hill Plaza complex.

The event, held yesterday at Orange and Rockland Utilities’ Auditorium in Spring Valley, featured a panel discussion that included: James B. Tully, first vice president of CB Richard Ellis; Michael Grossman, senior vice president of Mack-Cali Realty Corp.; Sheldon Goldstein, president of Lynmark Corp.; and William F. Helmer, president of Helmer Cronin Construction, Inc.

“I think Rockland County has the ability to compete,” says Tully of CB Richard Ellis. “We are definitely on everybody’s radar screen.”

Tully and the other panelists agreed that Rockland at the moment is seeing increased interest from firms in Northern New Jersey due to tight market conditions there as well as from Westchester County, NY from firms looking to spend a little less on office space.

Officials at the conference also expressed optimism concerning future development at the Rockland Psychiatric Center site in Orangeburg. REDC’s Small relates that Heartland Development of Long Island won a New York State bid to develop approximately 300 acres at the site. The company will soon be submitting a master plan for developing the site for approval by the town of Orangetown, Small said.

Developers and brokers at the conference expressed hope that Heartland will submit a mixed-use plan that would call for both housing and office development.