JV Pencils Start for 100,000-SF Spec

PARSIPPANY, NJ-With the region’s office market continuing to tighten ever so slightly, spec projects continue to pop up on the landscape. The latest entry to the market is One Jefferson Rd., a 100,000-sf, three-story class A building within the Center of Morris County business campus here. Construction is slated to start next month, with delivery scheduled for Q3 2008.

The joint venture behind the new building includes a commingled fund advised by JP Morgan Investment Management, the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown and Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Edison. Gale Real Estate Services of Roseland will manage and lease the asset, which is being built by the Gale Construction Co., also Roseland. Rotwein & Blake of Livingston is the architect.

“This will be the final development site in the Center of Morris County campus,” says Mark Yeager, president of Gale Real Estate Services. “One Jefferson Rd. comes on the heels of the success of our 100 Kimball Dr. spec development and reflects our venture’s confidence in the strength of the Morris County marketplace. We’re confident it will help meet the market’s demand for quality new space in the region.”

As reported by GlobeSt.com, Gale delivered the 175,000-sf 100 Kimball Dr. here in April, and shortly thereafter announced that it had signed accounting giant Deloitte & Touche to a long-term lease for 160,000 sf. The firm is scheduled complete its relocation to 100 Kimball from the nearby 2 Hilton Court in December, and the 90,000 sf it’s vacating at the latter site will be backfilled by Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo.

“We are committed to building class A headquarters quality office space in the New Jersey marketplace,” says Norman A. Feinstein, executive managing director of the Hampshire Cos., one of the trio of partners in the new One Jefferson Rd. project. “We anticipate tenants’ needs and read the overall market, and Morris County provides excellent demographics for a building of this caliber.”

For Hampshire, One Jefferson Rd. is the second spec building to roll out recently. As reported by GlobeSt.com this week, the firm is set to start construction for a new 81,000-sf building at its 15-acre 8 Sylvan Way in Parsippany. When completed next year, it will bulk that property up to a total of more than 177,000 sf.