Broadway Commons mall sold; new owner plans updates to Hicksville property

A Swiss bank has sold Broadway Commons mall to a partnership formed by companies with Long Island-based principals.

The sale of the Hicksville mall closed Thursday, said Kenneth Schuckman, a co-founder of BTF Capital, a Rockville Centre-based entity that is one of the three partners in K/BTF Broadway LLC, the mall’s new owner.

“Our intent is to nurture it and … give it the attention it deserves,” he said.

Located at 358 North Broadway, the mall was purchased from UBS Group AG, a Swiss investment bank.

Schuckman declined to disclose the sale price but real estate experts said the property sold for about $40 million.

Ten years ago, the mall fetched $94 million when it was sold to a partnership led by private equity giant KKR & Co.

Neither UBS nor the company that was operating the mall, Pacific Retail Capital Partners in Los Angeles, could immediately be reached for comment.

The mall’s new ownership group includes partners KABR Group, a private equity real estate group in Englewood, New Jersey, and AJM BRE Ventures, a joint venture formed by two Long Island companies — AJM Real Estate and Burman Real Estate.

“There’s a number of partners that … are Long Island-based families that are all in real estate individually with very specific strengths — in leasing, development, planning, everything. We all kind of have our level of expertise. That’s why we came together,” said Schuckman, who is also president of Schuckman Realty in Rockville Centre.

Broadway Commons is a 1.1 million-square-foot enclosed mall on a 68-acre site.

Formerly called Broadway Mall, the property has endured some challenges.

It has lost some large tenants over the past several years, including Macy’s, which was an anchor, in early 2020 and a 17,000-square-foot Old Navy last June.

“It really has been kind of a drag on the community in recent times. And the new ownership group is really looking forward to … modernizing it and basically keeping its overall theme of retail and entertainment but bringing it really up to today’s standards,” said attorney Bram Weber of Weber Law Group, the Melville-based firm representing K/BTF Broadway.

Prime location near Hicksville LIRR

The mall’s current anchors are a Target and the only Ikea on Long Island — both of those retailers own their buildings — as well as Round1 Bowling & Amusement and a movie theater, Showcase Cinema de Lux Broadway.

The mall was an attractive purchase for several reasons, including it being in a prime, high-traffic location just north of Hicksville’s LIRR station, which is near the site where a mixed-use development is being constructed, Schuckman said.

Located at 99 Newbridge Rd., the mixed-use development will include 7,660 square feet of commercial space, 189 apartment units and 338 parking spaces on two underground levels of the four-story structure. Some involved with the project have described it as the first new transit-oriented project in Hicksville's rezoned downtown.

Broadway Commons' new ownership group will enhance the retail property, but it does not plan to convert it to a mixed-use site, said Schuckman, who declined to disclose specific plans for the mall.

“We know retailers who are interested [in leasing space] for sure. There's definitely demand in the market,” he said.

Built in 1956, the mall started as an open-air shopping center called Mid-Island Shopping Plaza, which was enclosed in 1968. It was renamed Broadway Mall in 1989 after a redevelopment.

In 2005, Manhattan-based Vornado Realty Trust bought the mall for $152.5 million, including the assumption of an existing $94.9 million mortgage.  Vornado sold the mall for $94 million to a partnership between KKR & Co. and a trio of real estate investment firms in 2014.

The mall’s last major redevelopment was in 2016, and it was renamed Broadway Commons in 2017.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.