BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — New York City-based real estate investment trusts SL Green Realty Corp. and Gramercy Capital Corp. have sold their interests in a three-building office campus located at 55 Corporate Dr. in Bridgewater. The interests were acquired by another REIT, Inland American Real Estate Trust, for $230 million.
The office property is situated on 149 acres at the intersection of interstates 78 and 287. The property was originally developed in 1987 for AT&T, which occupied it until 2005. Currently, the property is fully occupied by pharmaceutical company sanofi-aventis USA Inc. as its headquarters.
“The existence of assumable debt for the property was one of the key ingredients in being able to transact in this environment,” said Gary Gabriel, executive vice president with Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Group and one of the brokers involved in the transaction. He adds that Inland’s strong position in this climate made it one of the few companies today that could come up with the capital to complete a transaction of this size.
In addition to its headquarters campus, sanofi-aventis’ largest U.S. research center is located in Bridgewater, bringing its total amount of space within the city to several hundred thousand square feet.
Gabriel, along with Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut and Jose Cruz of the Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group of Cushman & Wakefield’s East Rutherford, N.J., office, represented the sellers and helped procure the buyer. Inland American Real Estate Trust was represented in-house by Joe Cosenza.