Galvanize Real Estate Expands With New Jersey Acquisition

Galvanize Real Estate has acquired 150 Milford Road, a 608,000-square-foot industrial property along the I-95 corridor in East Windsor Township in central New Jersey.

The seller was AXA Real Estate, which acquired the property in 2021 for about $114.2 million from Dermody Properties, according to CommercialEdge data.

The asset is a manufacturing facility leased to National Tree Co., a specialist in artificial Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands, holiday decorations and fiber optics products. GRE plans to make a number of sustainable modifications to the building with the goal of optimizing energy efficiency, generating renewable power and increasing the asset’s value.

Specifically, GRE will take advantage of the more than 600,000 square feet of rooftop space at the building to provide the tenant with onsite renewable power, and to generate revenue through the local community solar program.

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Also, the buyer will electrify the property where possible with the conversion of fossil fuel fired systems to air-sourced heat pumps for heating and cooling. The upgrades will help National Tree Co. reduce its scope 3 emissions and otherwise meeting sustainability goals.

Value enhancement via decarbonization

The modifications are part of the GRE’s larger strategy of finding properties suitable for value enhancement via decarbonization. 150 Milford Road is the company’s third acquisition along these lines, with other recent deals for industrial properties inked in Maryland and New Jersey.

“We’re selective about the regions in which we invest, and for a multitude of reasons,” Nadine Anderson, vice president, acquisitions at GRE, told Commercial Property Executive.

“New Jersey is an attractive market for our approach of traditional value-add investing complemented by decarbonization and resiliency improvements,” Anderson said. “We look forward to continuing to evaluate other investment opportunities in the area.”

GRE is the sustainable real estate investment arm of Galvanize Climate Solutions, which focuses on returns from the transition to sustainable energy. Founded in 2021, Galvanize investments include venture capital and growth equity, public equities, and real estate.

Sustainable buildings are more cost effective

Buildings with higher energy performance are, on average, expected to save $1.64 per square foot in total annual expenses compared to legacy buildings, according to a General Services Administration study in 2018. 

The GSA, which has long been making efforts toward sustainability, made that determination by examining 200 buildings with over 13,000 data points over a three-year period, combining an internal analysis of GSA buildings with comparisons to industry-accepted benchmarks.

The agency’s experience from integrating and optimizing high-performance building attributes—including energy efficiency and healthy workplaces—shows that high-performance buildings function more efficiently than their legacy counterparts, and operate better than industry benchmarks.

GSA is the single largest owner/operator of office space in the U.S., controlling over 370 million square feet. Its portfolio includes office buildings, courthouses, land ports of entry and warehouses. Within that owned portfolio, high-performance buildings comprise 27 percent of buildings, and 40 percent of total gross square footage, as of the publication of the study.