Revlon Relocates New Jersey HQ

Revlon is taking its science and innovation lab to The Northeast Science and Technology Center, a 100+ acre campus in Kenilworth, N.J., dedicated to research and development innovations.

The in-state move brings it to 2000 Galloping Hill Road, about 9 miles southwest of Newark, N.J. It will be in a 62,000-square-foot space within the 1.2 million-square-foot building known as 15 NEST.

It is replacing the previous tenant, Merck, and is the first tenant there since Merck left. In October, Merck opened its new $317.2 million biosafety testing facility in Rockville, Md.

Revlon said the facility’s existing lab infrastructure was a key attraction.

JLL represented the ownership group of Onyx Equities, Machine Investment Group and Pivot Real Estate Partners, and Newmark represented Revlon.

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AI data center hyperscaler CoreWeave recently announced it plans to lease 280,000 square feet of space on the NEST campus.

New Jersey’s lab space demand

Newmark’s third-quarter life science market report for Northern New Jersey shows that 14 of the top 20 pharma companies and eight of the top 10 R&D companies are in the state. The market comprises 12.4 million square feet.

“Available lab space is limited despite new vacancies, and current demand for space exceeds 1 million square feet,” according to the report.

After a 10-year run of positive net absorption, the lab/R&D market is destined to break that streak in 2024, according to Avison Young’s life science report for the first half of 2024.

Meanwhile, JLL’s 2024 life sciences property report showed the cycle of softening lab demand has moderated. Most of this uptick in demand is concentrated in the top three markets, including Greater Boston.

Nonetheless, the HELIX project is New Jersey’s largest investment in life sciences and medical education. It is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2026. The 570,000-square-foot property is in New Brunswick.

Construction is also underway at the 400,000-square-foot BeiGene manufacturing campus in Pennington. It is set to deliver in the first quarter of 2025.