Lowenstein Sandler Opens New HQ in the Garden State

By Keith Loria

Lowenstein Sandler HQ in Roseland, N.J.

Lowenstein Sandler has leased 170,000 square feet at 56 at Roseland, a Class A office building that was redeveloped in Roseland, N.J., by its owners, a joint venture between Mountain Development Corp. and Square Mile Capital.

Located at  56 Livingston Ave., under the address of One Lowenstein Drive, the 400,000-square-foot property features complete interior renovations and extensive amenity upgrades.

“Architecturally, it is a uniquely beautiful asset and given the very significant investment made by the previous institutional owners, it also offered Lowenstein the chance to build off of all of the in-place value,” Michael Allen Seeve, president of Mountain Development Corp., told Commercial Property Executive. “The size of the property is one of the largest in the market, allowing ownership to attract not just Lowenstein but other prestigious firms to their headquarters as well.”

Evolving work spaces

Additionally, the size allowed Lowenstein the architectural freedom to design its space without the limitations of a smaller, more confined property.

Edward Hunter, chair of the Lowenstein Sandler real estate practice who led the partnership with MDC, said it was attracted to the property because it could be adapted to how legal work is done today.

“Law firm offices in the U.S. are typically designed for work behind a closed door,” he told CPE. “They can be a rabbit warren of individual workspaces shut off from the rest of the office and one another. Workplaces are evolving to provide more specialized spaces in which to meet with teammates and solve problems together that you can’t do as well alone or remotely. The One Lowenstein site looked promising to us because it allowed us to have an office that took advantage of that evolution.”

Attractive amenities

56 at Roseland features a café and conference center capable of accommodating 500 guests with food service handled by one of the best regarded operators on the East Coast. Other attractive amenities included a private data center; numerous conference rooms; a gym with showers and locker rooms; branded entryways; an exterior lounge with fire pits, and a green wall. 

In addition to the property’s amenities, Mountain Development Corp., and the site gave Lowenstein the opportunity to set out a space unified by a central diagonal “parkway” from which one can see the building’s glass front entrance in one direction and the scenic surroundings in the other, connecting teams as it spans the length of the building.

“On either side of the parkway, practices gather in ‘neighborhoods.’ Avoiding monotonous grids and squares, the office is cut into novel triangular spaces, nooks and angles, offering settings to stop and meet colleagues,” Hunter said. “Within our space, we were also able to create the ‘Lab, a 5,000-square-foot common area which serves as a gravitational social area at the midpoint of our premises. The ‘Lab’ has become the focal point of our New Jersey office’s culture.”

Enviable location

The property is located at the epicenter of some of the state’s most desirable residential communities, with highly regarded school systems, vibrant downtowns, and diverse, educated and engaged communities, offering easy access to optimal communities for raising families.

“We wanted to remain close to Roseland but desired to consolidate our operations in New Jersey into a single building,” Hunter said. “This property is just 17 miles from Lowenstein’s Rockefeller Center offices in Midtown Manhattan. It allows Lowenstein lawyers the continued flexibility to work in both urban and suburban environments over the course of a day, week or career and take advantage of the benefits of both kinds of settings and lifestyles.”

According to Seeve, interest from prospective tenants was intense and Mountain had to work hard to select the absolute right mix of firms to complement their vision for the building and whose respective offices would be the best fit.  

“Obviously, Lowenstein Sandler, together with Connell Foley and Brown & Brown make for one of the most prestigious tenant rosters anywhere in the state,” he said.

Image courtesy of Lowenstein Sandler