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| Mar 2004 |
Bergman Real Estate group partners with
GE Real Estate to acquire Jefferson Plaza office complex |
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Purchase of 170,000 sq.ft. office complex in Whippany, NJ
marks first acquisition of this new
strategic joint venture.
Woodbridge,
NJ, March 2004
Continuing their program of office
building acquisitions in New Jersey, Bergman Real Estate
Group and its joint venture partner, GE Real Estate, recently
purchased Jefferson Plaza, a two-building 170,000 square
foot office complex located at 100 & 110 South Jefferson
Road in Whippany. The property was acquired from Jefferson
OPCO, LLC for $17.3 million.
Jefferson Plaza is conveniently
located just off the intersection of Route 24 and I-287,
with direct access provided from Whippany
Road/Hanover Avenue and Cedar Knolls Road. The property has
superb visibility from I-287 and offers immediate accessibility
to the areas major highways, including Route 10, I-80, Route
46 and I-78. Jefferson Plaza is minutes from historic, downtown
Morristown to the south and of equal distance to the Parsippany
office submarket to the north.
We saw this as an excellent opportunity to acquire
a well-located property with significant upside for value
appreciation as the office leasing market steadily improves,” explains
Michael DiFede, Director of Business Development and Acquisitions
for Bergman Real Estate Group. “We seek properties
that we feel our hands-on ownership and management approach
can improve upon the asset’s value and achieve the
returns expected of our financial partners.” At the
time of closing, Jefferson Plaza was approximately 75% occupied
to primary tenants such as National Exchange Carrier Association,
AON Insurance, MCI/Worldcom, Jack Morton Worldwide and The
Brushfire Group.
Garibaldi Patners of Newark, NJ led by its
two principals Peter S. Nicoletti and Joseph J. Garibaldi
IV represented
the Seller in this transaction. “There was a strong
amount of interest from a variety of credible buyers,” reported
Joseph Garibaldi, “but we felt most confident with
the Bergman/GE group based upon their desire and ability
to close quickly, which was the mandate of our client. But
more importantly, we’ve sold other properties to Bergman
Real Estate Group and their track record for closing deals
in a timely manner was solid”
As reiterated by Mr.DiFede, “one of the challenges
of this transaction was the Seller’s insistence on
a fast-track sale. We had just 60 days from the signing of
a letter of intent (not from the actual Contract signing
which is more typical), to conduct our due diligence and
close title to the property. Everyone on all sides of the
transaction did a tremendous job of getting this deal done
in an unusually short timeframe. We are especially pleased
that our lender, The Bank of New York, and our financial
partner, GE Real Estate, both pulled out all the stops to
make this happen on time.”
According to Mark DePucchio, Eastern Region Manager for
GE Real Estate, “The goal for this joint venture is
to build a strong, diversified, office property equity portfolio
with properties such as the Jefferson Plaza. This venture
combines GE Real Estate’s capital strength and industry
expertise with Bergman’s track record of acquiring,
owning, managing and leasing commercial office properties.
Our partnership with such a well respected and knowledgeable
group as Bergman offers us the ability to acquire office
properties with high growth potential and commit the resources
necessary to maximize performance and value.”
Once a property is acquired, of course, the key to its success
is a pro-active leasing and management program, and it is
here where Bergman Real Estate Group has built its reputation. “We’re
in the hospitality and relationship business,” comments
Michael Bergman, a Principal and Vice President at Bergman
Real Estate Group, who oversees the firm’s in-house
leasing and marketing activities. “Our number one priority
is to provide top quality services to our tenants to assure
a comfortable and pleasant work environment for their employees,
which hopefully results in their long term occupancies in
our buildings. If we do our job right, and we think we do,
then the brokerage community who we rely upon will be more
inclined to bring us their tenants.”
Jefferson Plaza can accommodate a wide variety of tenants
due to the different sizes of the floor plates in each of
the buildings. The larger of the two, 100 Jefferson, comprises
three floors of 40,000 square feet per floor, while the 110
Jefferson building offers smaller floor plates of 17,000
square feet on three floors. “Jefferson Plaza is a
perfect fit with our portfolio of office properties,” explains
Mr. Bergman, “Our buildings tend to primarily cater
to smaller and medium size tenants ranging from 2,000 to
10,000 square feet, with one or two larger tenants of 20,000
to 40,000 square feet balancing out the tenancy. Jefferson
Plaza offers exactly this mix of tenant spaces, which we
believe provides greater stability over the long term.” |
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