GTJ REIT Buys New Jersey Industrial Portfolio for $63.7M

by Nellie Day

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — GTJ REIT has acquired a six-building industrial portfolio in Piscataway for $63.7 million. The properties are located off exits 6 and 7 of I-287 in the Rutgers’ area Route 287 submarket. The submarket contains 1,143 buildings, providing a total of 101.2 million square feet of industrial/manufacturing space.

The buildings within the portfolio contain a total of 681,754 square feet. They are fully occupied by seven long-term tenants, including Nomura Securities and Verizon. The buildings are situated on a redundant power grid, providing tenants with two separate and distinct power sources, with backup power in times of emergency.

“We are pleased to announce this acquisition, one of our largest completed deals to date,” says Paul Cooper, GTJ’s CEO. “The size and scale of this transaction reinforces our long-term commitment to expanding our footprint in the Northeast region. We believe the central New Jersey location, the power redundancy amenity and the strong occupancy of the Route 287 submarket make this a very attractive investment for our growing New Jersey portfolio.”

The acquisition was funded by a combination of $25.5 million from the net proceeds of a recent portfolio refinancing by GTJ. The remaining $39.1 million was sourced from a cross-collateralized mortgage from AllState Life Insurance Co., AllState Life Insurance Co. of New York and American Heritage Life Insurance Co.

“We are excited about this entry into Piscataway, complementing our current New Jersey portfolio of properties in Morris Plains and Parsippany,” adds Louis Sheinker, GTJ’s COO and president. “There are very few transactions of this scale and quality and believe this unique acquisition will serve to enhance our returns for the benefit of our shareholders.”

This is the REIT’s second acquisition this year. It purchased a single-story industrial building in Rocky Hill, Conn., that is occupied by the Connecticut Lottery Corporation this past January.

The firm also completed five transactions across the Tri-State area last year. GTJ now owns 45 properties with a total of nearly 5 million square feet of space on about 335 acres of land.

GTJ REIT is a public, non-listed REIT headquartered in West Hempstead, N.Y. The company focuses on the acquisition, ownership, and management of commercial real estate in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas.

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