Law Firm Re-Ups for 143,000 SF

NEWARK-McCarter & English, the state’s oldest and largest law firm, has renewed its lease for 143,000 sf at Four Gateway Center here. Landlords Heritage Management Co. and Ivy Equities were represented in-house; McCarter & English was represented by CB Richard Ellis’ tri-state region chairman John Powers, EVP David Sherman and SVP Marc Trevisan. Terms were not disclosed.

The signing represents the first lease transaction at Four Gateway, a 15-story, 327,000-sf class A building, since Heritage and Ivy bought it from the New York-based Olnick Organization in November 2006. Heritage used 1031 exchange monies from its earlier disposition of 570 Broad St. here for its part of the acquisition. The building is part of the Downtown Gateway Center, a four-tower, two-million-sf complex with multiple owners, situated across from Newark Penn Station, and is currently 92% leased to McCarter & English and Prudential Insurance.

“When we purchased Four Gateway Center, McCarter & English was looking at other space options,” says Jeffrey Greenberg, a principal of Heritage Management. “We’re very happy to have played a role in retaining for Newark, one of the city’s longest-term, highest profile tenants.” Founded in the mid-1800s, McCarter & English has been in continuous business in Newark for more than 160 years.

“We acquired this property confident that the desirability of Newark and this asset would help us retain our existing high-credit tenants,” says Anthony DiTommaso, Jr., CEO of Ivy Equities. “With this long-term renewal, we have strong confirmation that our investment decision was right on target.”

And the owners are planning to renovate McCarter & English’s offices and other areas of the asset. “Building on the presence of the strong credit tenants here, we will strengthen the property’s competitive position through a program of capital improvements to the lobby and retail space,” Greenberg says. “Our immediate goals are to reposition the building’s retail component and stabilize the office portion with long-term leases.”