GerritsenBeach.net

Reposted Via Brooklyn View

By Edmund Demarche

Life is good if you’re Cliff Luster, the publisher of Courier Life Publications whose crown jewel is the Bay News. You already sold your company, which was founded by your father, to News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch also continues to pay you $10,000 a month for rent, insurance, and utilities at the storefront at 1733 Sheepshead Bay Road, according to sources.

On Monday, Nov. 19, Massey Knakal Realty Services will announce that the grey building with no windows is on sale for $3.5 million, allowing just enough time to find a potential buyer before News Corporation, the media conglomerate intent on securing a local presence, has its lease expire in the summer.

The property, although not aesthetically pleasing, offers 10,000 square feet of indoor space, along with 10,000 square feet for parking and a driveway that provides easy
access.

Although $10,000 a month is nothing to scoff at, Luster could be making $30,000 a month for renting the building, according to real estate analysts. Stores on Sheepshead Bay Road can easily demand $30 a square foot per month.

“All Luster is doing right now is collecting a $10,000 a month check and he’s paying nothing,” said Brian Hanson, the director of sales from Massey Knakal Realty Services who specializes in Sheepshead Bay sales.“He’s working for News Corporation and collecting rent from his employer. Not too many people can say that.”

Edward Luster, the founder of Courier Life and revered in the community, said in a phone interview that News Corporation wants to ‘combine’ all its local interests in one building and obviously its current location isn’t big enough to
accommodate that.