The US Department of Defence, under the leadership of Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, will open a new regional office in the locality of Carle Place on Long Island in New York State. The corresponding lease agreement was signed for the building at 1 Old Country Road in Nassau County. This year, the Department is seeking congressional approval to rename itself the Department of War.
The five-storey office building most recently served as the headquarters of online flower and gift retailer 1-800-Flowers, which vacated the comprehensively repositioned office building in 2020 for Jericho, N.Y. The Department of Defence's new lease covers an area of 23,600 square feet and was concluded for a term of ten years with landlord DBD Realty Group.
DBD Realty Group was represented in the negotiations by Kelly Koukou of Lee & Associates NYC, whereas Ralph Guiffre, Vince Lamatta and Richard Freel of CBRE represented the tenant. Spokespersons for the Department, DBD and CBRE were not immediately available for comment.
Extensive Modernisation of the Site
The office building, with a total area of 320,000 square feet, has recently undergone an extensive repositioning, with USD 22 million invested. This modernisation included a new facade, the replacement of windows, the redesign of the lobby, and a comprehensive upgrade of the infrastructure. Additionally, a newly constructed car park offers capacity for 1,600 vehicles.
Kelly Koukou commented on the new settlement: "The Department of War's commitment validates the building’s comprehensive repositioning and reflects the continued momentum we are seeing in the property's lease-up following its strong post-pandemic uptick in lease-up."
- —The Department is expected to move in early next year following an extensive fit-out of its future premises.
- —Another governmental tenant, the Federal Aviation Administration, already occupies over 74,000 square feet on the fifth and fourth floors of the building, where it signed a 15-year lease in 2023.
