New Jersey Market Update: Life Sciences Keep Transaction Activity Afloat

Office transactions in New Jersey amounted to $46.6 million in February, marking a 40.3 percent drop in investment volume year-over-year, albeit on a limited sample size.

The sale of 170 Park Ave., a 147,000-square-foot purpose-built life science facility at $316.50 per square foot, dominated transaction activity within the market during last month, pushing the average price for the first two months of 2021 to an average of $197 per square foot.

In January 2021, six properties changed hands within the New Jersey market, adding up to nearly 1.1 million square feet and $33 million in transactions, compared to 2.6 million square feet and a total investment volume of $24 million in the same period last year. The average sale price per square foot clocked in at $177.2 for January—a 6.1 percent drop year-over-year—with two-thirds of the assets located in Northern New Jersey and the rest situated within the Central submarket.

On February 24, JLL Income Property Trust completed the only significant deal in New Jersey, as it picked up the Florham Park, N.J., asset for $46.6 million. Lone Star Funds was the seller in the transaction. Dating back to the 1980s, the property’s recent revamp transformed the asset into a life science facility for biotechnology company Celularity Inc., which operates its headquarters at the location since 2019.

CommercialEdge covers 8M+ property records in the United States. View the latest CommercialEdge national monthly office report here. We included properties of 25,000+ square feet in our research.