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Landmark Milleridge Inn sold to LI REIT

David Winzelberg //May 26, 2015 //

Milleridge Inn

Milleridge Inn

Landmark Milleridge Inn sold to LI REIT

David Winzelberg //May 26, 2015 //

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New Hyde Park-based Kimco Realty will be the new owner of the historic Milleridge Inn in Jericho, sources say.

Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but Kimco, Long Island’s largest real estate investment trust, will be leasing the property back to its longtime owners, the Murphy family, who will still operate the business.

Kimco owns the 11.3-acre Jericho Commons shopping center nearly adjacent to the 10-acre Milleridge property. That center, which has 130,296 square feet of retailers including Whole Foods, Marshall’s, CVS and Starbucks, is separated from the Milleridge Inn by a 147,183-square-foot office building at 500 North Broadway owned by Metropolitan Realty Associates. But Kimco already has an easement that connects the shopping center and the inn.

Kimco officials didn’t respond to requests for comment on its eventual plans for the property.

The Murphy family had owned and operated two Lauraine Murphy’s restaurants—in Great Neck and Manhasset—before taking control of the Milleridge in 1961, when Murphy family patriarch James Murphy paid $1.12 million for the inn and the 10 acres it sits on. Four years later, Murphy opened a country store on the property, the first of the series of Colonial-flavored retail shops there.

“It’s been in the Murphy family for 54 years and will continue with the same management,” said Bruce Davis, Milleridge’s director of operations.

Originally built in 1676 as a two-room home for Mary Washburn Willets, a Quaker pioneer, the Milleridge Inn expanded over the years into a sprawling mansion. The historic property is said to have hosted British and Hessian officers during the Revolutionary War. Today the popular restaurant and catering facility also features a separate event cottage and a collection of small shops, including a general store, that sell touristy items reflective of 18th century America.