Merrick post office property sold for $5.1 million

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A property that houses the Merrick post office at 2040 Merrick Road is under new ownership.

As part of a $5.1 million sale negotiated by Avison Young’s Net Lease Investment Sales Group, the buyer, SJR Realty, acquired the .68 acre-lot from the seller, 2040 Merrick LLC, on Aug. 15. The 10,742-square-foot building is net-leased to the United States Postal Service, and will remain a post office.

Avison Young is a global commercial real estate services firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Its Net Lease Investment Sales Group represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. Asher Wenig, the group’s senior director, described the site as a “mission-critical, last-mile distribution and sorting facility” for the postal service, and noted its valuable location near a “major thoroughfare” at the intersection of Merrick Road and Merrick Avenue.

“The seller had recently replaced the roof and resurfaced the parking lot in order to get a new, long-term 10-year lease executed with the tenant,” Wenig wrote in an email to the Herald Life. “The buyer was attached to the residual value and [the] strong USPS lease.”

A net-lease refers to a contractual agreement where a lessee pays a portion or all of the taxes, insurance fees and maintenance costs for a property in addition to rent. They are most commonly used in commercial real estate.

Maureen Marion, a public relations representative with USPS, said that while ownership of the property has changed, service operations would not. Landlords changing hands over time, she said, is “business as usual.”

“We are still the tenant, and there will be no change in [our] operations,” Marion said. “I have asked if there’s any anticipation for a change but have heard nothing to the contrary. As it stands right now, we’re still here.”