In the last couple of weeks the buzz among realtors and merchants in the Village of Garden City has been that the now vacant Salomon Smith Barney building, 901 Franklin Avenue, is to have a new occupant. TDK Electronics, which currently has its headquarters at 12 Harbor Park Drive in Port Washington, is the reported new owner of the building, having purchased it through Cushman and Wakefield from Centre Garden City, LLC. According to the talk about the Village, TDK has even informally met with the Architectural Design Review Board. Garden City Life contacted Francis Sweeney of TDK Electronics who said he was unable to formally discuss the purchase of the building for now, but once the "ink dried," so to speak, he would contact this paper.

The TDK building in Port Washington has reportedly been sold and plans are in the works for the needed renovations of the Franklin Avenue location. While the price of the building has been referred to as "significant," none of the parties involved in the sale were at liberty to discuss specifics. Russell Matthews of Garden City Center Associates commented on the sale as a fellow real estate owner and active participant in the revitalization of the business district, "This purchase validates the investment the Village has made in the beautification of Franklin Avenue."

While most of the response to the sale was positive, focusing on the progress being made toward filling the vacancies along the thoroughfare, Matthew's fellow Chamber of Commerce officer, Chamber President Bertram Donley took a negative spin in his recent letter to the mayor, published at his request in the letters section of this issue. Donley wrote, "Although TDK's purchase eliminates a prominent vacancy, it's a blow to efforts to attract retailers to Franklin Avenue, by eliminating the retail continuity deemed essential by prospective retail tenants." The building is a 20,000 square foot building with a basement and was considered a significant vacancy on what was once known as the Fifth Avenue of Long Island and has been office space for at least the last 15 years.

TDK Electronics is a major manufacturer of magnetic media. They will not be opening a production facility here, but at their production sites they create audio and video tapes, as well as zip disks, diskettes, and other computer materials. TDK produces the raw media upon which other companies then create their recordings.

One resident commented about the TDK occupancy, "I think it's great for the Village. To have a major company like this come into Garden City can only help Franklin Avenue. TDK is nationally recognized. Everyone knows their video cassettes and audio tapes and recognizes the name, so to see it on a sign on Franklin Avenue would certainly attract other prominent tenants to the area. I frankly don't think it matters that it's not retail space. To fill 20,000 square feet with retail would either require a department store or many small stores and as many business areas have seen, these small stores often come and go and with a department store there's no guarantee they'll stay either. Look at Bloomingdale's and A&S. There have been many department stores that have come and gone from Franklin Avenue and many buildings have been used for office space for decades and created a successful mix. Now companies like the Garden City Center Associates are working to attract businesses and the Village has done a beautiful job revitalizing Franklin. I think the news is positive and I think all of this spells good things for Garden City."