$22M Takes 113,000-SF Office

WOODBRIDGE, NJ-Heritage Capital Group was formed earlier this spring to buy commercial real estate properties, and now the group has its first pick-up. The Ridgewood-based group is paying $22 million, or about $195 per sf, to buy Plaza Nine, a 112,568-sf office building at 900 Route 9 North here. The seller is the Montvale-based Ivy Equities.

“This is a terrific first project for us,” says Jeffrey Greenberg, a principal of Heritage Capital. As reported by GlobeSt.com, Jeffrey and Steven Greenberg, both principals of Heritage Management, teamed up recently with veteran real estate exec Robert Martie to form Heritage Capital with an eye on buying a range of commercial properties, with a focus on the Mid-Atlantic region.

“Plaza Nine is a superior asset in one of the most accessible locations in Central New Jersey,” Jeffrey Greenberg says. “It is in a position to continue to outperform its competitive set.”

Located on a half-dozen acres near a three-way intersection of Route 9, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, the building was fully leased at the time of sale. Its anchor tenants include JP Morgan Chase and the NIP Group Inc.

“The property has a history of consistent leasing momentum and has paced the region in occupancy and tenant retention,” says Cushman & Wakefield’s Gary Gabriel, who brokered the deal with C&W colleagues Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut and Jose Cruz. “With its location, occupancy rate and tenant base, it drew great interest from the investment community.”

The sale marks the second property in the Woodbridge/Edison submarket that Ivy Equities has sold recently. As reported by GlobeSt.com in April, Ivy and partner Rockwood Capital sold Metropark Office Center, a three-building, 833,300-sf property in Iselin, to the New York-based Tishman Speyer for a figure said to be “north of $200 million. That deal signaled the re-entry of Tishman Speyer into the New Jersey market.

“Our presence in Woodbridge has been rewarding,” says David Archibald, EVP of investments for Ivy Equities. “The disposition of Plaza Nine enables us to take advantage of current market conditions and realize a solid return from our involvement there.”