This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. 2 Large Cargo Buildings in Hands of a New Owner September 18, 2002 By SANA SIWOLOP It took two years and many trips to New York, but John Meyer, a real state executive based in San Francisco, finally has his wish. In September 2000, Mr. Meyer, director of the airport facilities group at AMB Property, a real estate investment trust, put in a call to the Halmar Group, a company based in New York City that develops commercial buildings and does contracting work for roads and bridges. Mr. Meyer hoped to persuade Halmar to sell the two cargo buildings that it owned at Kennedy International Airport. The buildings had an enviable location - either directly on the tarmac or next to it. But according to Mr. Meyer, they were also the only cargo facilities at Kennedy that were not owned by the airlines or the airport. At first, Halmar had no interest in selling. "We were happy managing them, and we were getting profits," said Sal Jain, a partner in Halmar Construction, the parent of the Halmar Group. Still, as Mr. Jain remembers it, the suitor from San Francisco was "so persistent." In January 2001, his company, which is based at Kennedy Airport, finally began negotiations on the two buildings with AMB. Those talks ended in August, when AMB, which estimates that it owns a quarter of the warehouse and distribution space around the airport - roughly a million square feet in 31 structures - closed on the sale of the two buildings. Both AMB and Halmar declined to give the price for the sale. According to Mr. Meyer, the structures are the two largest air cargo buildings at Kennedy that have on-airport access, which means they sit on airport property. Cargo buildings that have on-airport access have been in high demand as the quickening pace of commerce has increased the appeal of locations that let airplanes taxi directly to a cargo building, so that cargo does not have to be moved first to some sort of freight carrier. At Kennedy, because of heavy traffic in and around the airport, such buildings are especially desirable, freight forwarders say. Both of AMB's new Kennedy properties are fully leased. The 227,718-square-foot Building 77 is on the tarmac. According to AMB, it has 19 truck bays, as well as two aircraft parking spots that have direct ramp access to the building and can simultaneously accommodate two 747-400 jets, the most widely used cargo planes. The structure was built in 1992, and the tenants now include TNT Express, an express delivery company, and D.J. Air Services, a cargo handling company. AMB's second recent acquisition at Kennedy is the 198,796-square-foot Building 75, adjacent to the airfield. Its tenants include BAX Global, an air express and forwarding company, and North American Airlines, a charter airline. Building 75 was built in 1987. With the recent acquisitions at Kennedy, AMB's portfolio has 2.6 million square feet of on-airport cargo buildings. The company owns about 22.5 million square feet of off-airport facilities. AMB has increased its on-airport presence considerably since March 1998, when it acquired its first on-airport building at Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport. Starting in late 2000, the company began buying on-airport cargo buildings at a faster clip, and it now owns structures in 11 United States airport markets, with another one scheduled to be finished in November at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. This summer has been busy for AMB. In July the company acquired a 95 percent interest in the largest on-airport air cargo building - 284,780 square feet - at Dulles International Airport near Washington. AMB plans to keep acquiring airport buildings both on and off airport land, with the goal of focusing on major international airports around the world, Mr. Meyer said. Port Authority officials, meanwhile, are happy with the investment that they have already seen at Kennedy. The airport is in the midst of a cargo-building redevelopment project aimed at creating almost two million square feet of new cargo space. "Private investment is a key element of the $10 billion public-private redevelopment here at J.F.K.," said Greg Trevor, a Port Authority spokesman. "AMB's decision reflects the faith of air cargo in the future of our airport." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/18/business/18WARE.html?ex=1033354034&ei=1&en=14a8417d426a053f HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company