TEANECK, N.J. — Alfred Sanzari Enterprises, a family-owned and operated commercial and residential real estate firm, has negotiated three office lease renewals totaling 25,000 square feet at Glenpointe, the firm’s flagship office property in the Northern New Jersey community of Teaneck. The deals include a 10,600-square-foot renewal and expansion with Treetop Development, a 7,300-square-foot renewal and expansion with The Russell Berrie Foundation and a 7,100-square-foot renewal and expansion with Eastern Fish Co. Newmark’s team of Jeff Schotz, Peter Rossi, Dan Reider, Peter Kasparian and David Simson represented Alfred Sanzari Enterprises in all the transactions.
SHORT HILLS, N.J. — The Birch Group has acquired a four-building office portfolio in the Short Hills submarket of Northern New Jersey for $255 million. The 843,300-square-foot portfolio comprises four Class A buildings located at 51, 101, 103 and 150 JFK Parkway. The properties are currently 80 percent leased to 22 tenants, including Citibank, Investors Bank, KPMG, Bank of America, UBS, Dun & Bradstreet, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. “During the pandemic, there has been a demographic shift to the suburbs, and the migration of this talent pool represents an extraordinary opportunity to meet the demand for high-quality office assets in prime New Jersey markets,” says Mark Meisner, CEO and founder of Birch. “Short Hills is among one of the most prestigious suburban locales and it has consistently achieved above-average rents in New Jersey, while maintaining the highest occupancy rates within the market.” David Bernhaut led a Cushman & Wakefield team that represented the seller, Mack-Cali Realty Corp. (NYSE: CLI). The buyer has also retained Cushman & Wakefield as the leasing agent for the properties. Birch says it views the acquisition as a repositioning opportunity and plans to employ a value-add strategy. Birch will complement $15.2 million of recently completed …
WEST ORANGE, N.J. — Thorofare Capital has provided a $13 million bridge loan for the acquisition of a 70,000-square-foot medical office building in the Northern New Jersey community of West Orange. The property is located within a mile of a 577-bed hospital. The loan was structured with a five-year term and includes proceeds for tenant improvements and other capital expenditures. The borrower was an undisclosed institutional owner-operator.
SOMERSET, N.J. — CustomPictureFrames.com, a manufacturer of picture and other framing solutions, has acquired a 45,300-square-foot industrial building at 6 Shirley Ave. in Somerset, located in Northern New Jersey. Bill Waxman and Christopher Griffith of CBRE represented the buyer, which will relocate from nearby South River, in its site selection and negotiations. Bussel Realty Corp. represented the seller, Emby Hosiery Corp.
ATLANTIC CITY — Standard Communities has purchased Baltic Plaza Apartments, a 169-unit affordable seniors housing property in Atlantic City. The new ownership plans to invest about $10 million in capital improvements to the property, which was originally built in 1982. Standard Communities completed this transaction in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency. The transaction was financed with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits arranged in partnership with PNC Bank, with additional financing provided by Citibank.
PATERSON, N.J. — BAW Development has broken ground on the redevelopment of Hinchliffe Stadium, an athletic venue in the Northern New Jersey city of Paterson that was originally built in 1932 as the home field of the New York Black Yankees of the Negro Leagues. Once the redevelopment is complete, the site will house a 7,800-seat venue with an upgraded field and seating areas, as well as a 75-unit affordable seniors housing complex, a 12,000-square-foot restaurant and event space, a 5,200-square-foot preschool and a 314-space parking garage. The ballpark, which fell into disrepair in the late 1990s and has been largely unused since then, is most often associated with Paterson native Larry Doby, the first player to break the American League color barrier in 1947. BAW Development is the lead developer and majority owner. RPM Development Group is BAW’s development partner. Construction is being funded, in part, through local, state and national funding via historic tax credits, low-income housing tax credits, new market tax credits and a bond issued by the Passaic County Improvement Authority. Goldman Sachs also recently provided $60 million in construction financing.
NORTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. — Levin Management Corp. has negotiated four lease renewals for Virginia-based discount retailer Dollar Tree in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The New Jersey locations include a 14,500-square-foot space at Brunswick Shopping Center, a 10,300-square-foot shop in Watchung and a 9,400-square-foot store in Franklin Township. The Pennsylvania location is situated in Middletown and spans 9,000 square feet.
EWING, N.J. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of The Luxe at Ewing Station, a 59-unit multifamily property in Ewing, located outside of Trenton. The complex is located within a mile of Ewing Town Center, an 80-acre mixed-use redevelopment of the former General Motors plant. Chez Eider and Jason Petrick of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer and seller, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
EDISON, N.J. — CBRE has negotiated a 346,858-square-foot industrial lease for international logistics firm JW Fulfillment Inc. in the Northern New Jersey city of Edison. The 699,000-square-foot facility at 300 Cedar Lane sits on 50 acres and features 40-foot clear heights, 123 loading docks, 161 trailer parking spaces and 389 car parking spaces. Bill Waxman, Mindy Lissner and Chris Griffith, along with Jimo Liu of Realmart Realty, represented the tenant in its site selection and lease negotiations. Chuck Fern of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord.
By Danielle Brunelli, president, R.J. Brunelli & Co. On both the landlord and tenant sides, 2020 was a tough year for the Northern New Jersey retail market. But as some of the industry’s most optimistic voices predicted, the hard times are passing, and actually passing fairly quickly. In 2020, we saw leasing activity decline by almost 30 percent year over year. This languishing activity resulted in a 3.1 percent drop in the market rent on a per-square-foot basis. Over the past couple years, there were several bankruptcies in the works that were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These bankruptcies resulted in many new vacancies in the region, including former stores of Modells, Justice, Pier 1 Imports, Tuesday Morning, Steinmart and others. However, light has appeared at the end of the tunnel, and we are seeing renewed leasing activity as we close the first quarter of 2021. Users including Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree, Harbor Freight, Raymour and Flanigan, salon suites concepts, Five Below and others are leasing up vacant spaces quickly. Tenant Expansions A good example of an essential service business that has benefited from an increase in sales throughout the pandemic and aggressively expanded in the region in 2020 is …