ARC Affiliate Buys 154 KSF Office Building in Princeton, NJ, Area from Ivy

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

An affiliate of American Realty Capital has purchased 100 College Road West, a Class A office building in the Princeton submarket of Plainsboro, N.J., for $63.5 million from Ivy Realty.

The seller was represented by Cushman & Wakefield.

The three-story, 154,101-square-foot building is fully occupied by pharmaceutical giant Sandoz, which recently signed a 12-year lease for its U.S. headquarters.

“This was formerly a headquarters building for Novo Nordisk. It’s a great location and a Class A building, but [Novo Nordisk] outgrew the building and when it came available, it became empty at a time when leasing was slow,” Andrew Merin, vice chairman within Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey, Inc.’s Capital Markets Group, told Commercial Property Executive. “It was taken back by the lender and Ivy Realty knew about Sandoz’ requirements and was able to deliver this building for Sandoz when they needed it.”

The office building has frontage and visibility along U.S. Route 1, and is adjacent to Princeton Forrestal Village, which offers shops, restaurants and national chain hotels.

100 College Road West’s Plainsboro location is within an hour’s drive of both New York and Philadelphia, and other major thoroughfares include the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95), Route 206, and I-295. Princeton University is also nearby.

According to Merin, the transaction occurred before the availability was formally announced, not surprising due to the level of demand in the area for Class A properties occupied by high-credit, long-term tenants.

“This submarket has the lowest vacancy rate in all of New Jersey at 12.7 percent, with the rest of the state averaging somewhere between 18-20 percent,” he said. “It’s a tight market, and particularly tight for large blocks of space over 100,000 square feet.”

The building is currently undergoing significant upgrades, including a renovated lobby, renovated cafeteria, new meeting rooms, office space fit-outs, and improvements to achieve LEED Silver certification.

“There’s a lot of money being spent by both the landlord and tenant. This is going to be a first class headquarters building,” Merin added. “Everyone’s emphasis today is making valuable employees feel comfortable and a whole new dynamic with work force design and it’s going to be state of the art.”

Merin was assisted on the sale by David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel and Grace Braverman, all of Cushman and Wakefield’s East Rutherford, N.J.-based Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group.