Italian specialty grocer Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace is expanding its Long Island operations by transforming a recently purchased $13.5 million Edgewood warehouse into a cold-storage facility, according to property records and brokers who arranged the sale.

The Melville-based grocery chain, which opened its first store in East Meadow in 1998, has completed the acquisition of a 53,600-square-foot industrial warehouse at 77 Rodeo Dr. as part of its broader expansion plans, according to brokers at Cushman & Wakefield of Long Island. The warehouse space, located within Brentwood in the Town of Islip, according to U.S. Census Bureau records, was previously occupied by US Lock, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based hardware giant the Home Depot, according to property records from CoStar.

Officials with Uncle Giuseppe’s declined to comment on the purchase of the property Wednesday morning.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Long Island office represented the seller in the transaction, and Farmingdale-based Paramount Properties Group represented the grocery chain. The sale was finalized on May 8.

"The sale of 77 Rodeo Drive underscores the growing demand for industrial spaces with cold storage capabilities in the Long Island market," Frank Frizalone, executive managing director of Cushman & Wakefield said in a statement.

Frizalone added that the warehouse will help the grocer in its growth plans.

"The property's strategic location within the Heartland Business District and its proximity to major transportation routes make it an ideal choice for Uncle Giuseppe's expansion plans, as they look to grow their operations throughout the tri-state region,” Frizalone said.

Thomas DeLuca, a managing director at Cushman & Wakefield who worked on behalf of the seller said "there’s been a lot of activity from the food industry in the last 18 to 24 months,"

“We received significant interest from both investors and users in the market,” DeLuca said.

Gary J. Chimeri, president and CEO of Paramount Properties Group, said the grocer plans to renovate the property to transform it into a facility with cold storage capabilities.

“They have some construction to undergo, but they move quick,” Chimeri said. “If I had to guess, it will be 6 to 9 months, pending permits and approvals” before the facility is up and running.

Earlier this month Uncle Giuseppe’s said it planned to open a 50,000-square-foot store late next year in a Levittown space previously occupied by King Kullen. The planned store, to be at 3284 Hempstead Tpke., will be two miles from its East Meadow location.

The chain has 11 stores in New York and New Jersey, including in Yorktown Heights, Westchester County, which opened in 2019; North Babylon, 2020; Morris Plains, New Jersey, 2021; and Tinton Falls, New Jersey, 2023.

Aside from Levittown, Uncle Giuseppe’s plans to open a 39,000-square-foot store in Sayville Plaza in Bohemia in late 2025 at the site of a former Babies R Us.

Additionally, the grocer has said it plans to open an approximately 52,000-square-foot space in Greenvale in early 2026 that a Stop & Shop left in October.