134,000-SF Unilever Tech Center Hits the Market

FRANKLIN TWP., NJ-CB Richard Ellis’ Iselin, NJ office has gotten the exclusive to find a subtenant or buyer for the 134,000-sf Unilever Bestfoods Technical Center, an R&D facility located at 150 Pierce St. here. CBRE senior vice president Tom Sullivan and first vice president Sab Russo are heading the effort to find a buyer or tenant for the property.

“This opportunity arose from Unilever Bestfoods North America’s decision to relocate its R&D operations to the company’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs [NJ],” explains Richard A. Serko, director of corporate real estate for Unilever. “Locating the R&D facility, engineering and quality control with the rest of the business will allow for, and fits well with the company’s objectives of greater collaboration.”

Completed 11 years ago, the asset features a 57,000-sf lab wing and a multi-function pilot plant area with 27-foot clear height and an extensive infrastructure, according to Serko. The facility’s 17-acre site also provides expansion capabilities.

“This is one of the highest quality facilities of its kind in the region,” says Sullivan. “It’s rare to find the existing combination of class A labs, a pilot plant area and office space all in one facility,” he adds, noting that the marketing effort ids targeting biotech, pharmaceutical and food science-related users.

The facility’s location is in the research corridor linking the cities of Princeton and New Brunswick, and the campuses of Rutgers and Princeton universities. The campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is also nearby.

Unilever Bestfoods North America generated sales of $47 billion last year. Besides a wide range of food products, the company also produces and markets home and personal care products.