Willow Park Center at farmingdale
Overview
Location: Farmingdale, NY
Major Tenants: Target
Size: 117,000sf
Willow Park Center is an 117,000sf retail center in Farmingdale, NY. In 1984 G&S Investors purchased the site, which was an old, dilapidated industrial park located on the Route 110 corridor. Although during the 1980’s the site’s use as an industrial park would sway most developers from pursuing a redevelopment, G&S Investors viewed the Property’s location on Route 110, which is one of the more heavily trafficked corridors in the region and an area of heavy traditional retail consumer traffic, as an ideal location for a retail center. Successfully negotiating through the redevelopment process, including a rezoning from industrial to retail use, G&S Investors completed an 117,000sf center in December 1990. The center at that time included a 9,000sf Houlihans restaurant, which was a volume leading chain in the restaurant/bar industry at the time, a 6,000sf Maces Close-out City and a 102,000 Home Depot, Long Island’s first Home Depot.
All stores in the center became an instant success, especially the Home Depot. Home Depot’s first year sales topped $50.0 million nearly doubling their first year sales projection of $26.0 million. Within a few years Home Depot’s sales exceeded $61.0 million annually making the store one of the highest grossing stores in the company at that time. With business far exceeding any of Home Depot’s wildest projections, Home Depot relocated the store to a larger facility in the same vicinity on the Route 110 corridor.
The relocation of Home Depot lead to a further redevelopment of the site, this time to its current use as a Target-anchored shopping center. As a part of its agreement with Target, G&S acquired an adjacent strip of retail stores, reconstructed them, and attracted tenants to go along with the Target store, which opened in 2003.
The property was successfully sold in 2015.