Rockefeller JV Sells More Than 1 MSF at New Jersey Park

300 Ridge Road. Image courtesy of Rockefeller Group

Rockefeller Group and joint venture partner PCCP have sold two recently completed distribution centers in Rockefeller Group Logistics Center in Piscataway, N.J., to DWS Group’s real estate platform. A Cushman & Wakefield team brokered the sale. This marks the first sale at the park, where Rockefeller Group will eventually develop five buildings totaling 2.1 million square feet.

The first building, located at 300 Ridge Road, is a 725,000-square-foot distribution center and was fully leased during construction to Best Buy. It features 36-foot clear ceiling heights, 137 cross-docked loading positions and 195-foot truck docks. The second property, at 100 Ridge Road, is a 311,000-square-foot distribution center fully leased by two tenants, Fujitsu General America Inc. and Humanscale. Each company occupies about 155,000 square feet.

“The sale of these completed buildings at Rockefeller Group Logistics Center shows the high level of demand for Class A industrial property in New Jersey,” Heath Abramsohn, Rockefeller Group vice president & regional director for the New Jersey and Pennsylvania region, said in a prepared statement.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Gary Gabriel worked on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer. Members of the firm’s New Jersey capital markets team included Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Brian Whitmer, Kyle Schmidt and Ryan Larkin. 

“There was considerable depth of institutional interest, reflecting a sustained appetite for quality industrial product in New Jersey,” Schmidt explained. “Rockefeller Group Logistics Center has validated the 287 corridor investment thesis, with the market emerging as a target for investors and users alike.”

Three further buildings totaling more than 1 million square feet are currently under construction on the site. Two of these are under contract by owner/users for purchase and one is being built on a speculative basis, a Rockefeller Group spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive. DWS Group could not be reached for comment.

Go west, young warehouse

A fourth-quarter New Jersey industrial market report from Avison Young highlights the growth west of the New Jersey Turnpike, in the Piscataway, Somerset and South Plainfield markets along Route 287. There, the report notes, tenants can find ”excellent access and more affordable rents.” Overall, the state’s industrial market remains “exceptionally strong with vacancy rates falling while rents continue to reach all-time highs.”

Meanwhile, Rockefeller Group has been busy developing and selling industrial properties on both coasts. In February, the company sold a new 406,650-square-foot distribution building at the Optimus Logistics Center in Perris, Calif.