The Volkswagen Group of America has closed on its acquisition of the Potamkin General Motors building and car dealership, located at 798-804 11th Avenue in Manhattan, for $84 million, according to CB Richard Ellis.
According to CoStar Property, the building was built in 1967 and is situated upon nearly one acre. With an additional $41 million investment, Volkswagen plans to transform the 265,000-square-foot building into flagship dealerships for its Audi and Volkswagen brands. This deal will make Volkswagen well-represented on the "auto sales autoban" section of Manhattan's West Side, which also include such dealerships as Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, Toyota, and others.
The CBRE team representing Volkswagen included Jedd Nero, executive vice president, and Michael Kadosh, senior associate, in New York; Lauren Scarpace, vice president; Paul Beitz, first vice president; Tim Luke, alliance director for Volkswagen Group of America account, and Allen Dresselhouse, vice president, Project Management Services, in Detroit. Allen and Robert Potamkin, the sons of the company founder, along with Peter Paris, of Potamkin, negotiated the deal on behalf of their company.
"Volkswagen Group of America engaged CBRE in the search for a flagship Manhattan site back in February 2007, and identifying opportunities on 11th Avenue, which eventually stood out as a preferred location, was extremely challenging," said Mr. Nero. "However, Volkswagen was committed to its strategic plan to grow in the U.S. market and the Potamkin site ended up fitting perfectly into their business and marketing plan in New York," he added.
Scarpace said, "The current Potamkin building will be recreated from the inside out, leading to specific efficiencies and an extraordinary Volkswagen and Audi brand experience, with two distinct, cutting-edge architectural experiences."
This article appears in CoStar's Retail News Roundup: Nov. 15-21, 2009
This week in the Retail Roundup, CoStar reports on
expansions or new concepts at Apple and Urban Outfitters;
closings, cutbacks, defaults, or bankruptcy news at Trans World, InkStop, and Hacketts;
acquisition, merger, loan, sale, or IPO activity at Volkswagen and Regency Centers;
personnel or corporate announcements at Glimcher, Forest City, CB Richard Ellis, and Grubb & Ellis;
sustainability and green building news at Eat'n Park; and more.