Urban Edge Sells NJ Industrial Portfolio for $218M
JLL arranged the transaction that was part of a 1031 exchange.
The East Hanover industrial portfolio changed hands in a 1031 exchange. Image courtesy of JLL Capital Markets
In New Jersey’s largest industrial sale of the year, retail REIT Urban Edge Properties has sold a 1.2 million-square-foot, seven-building portfolio in East Hanover, N.J., for $217.5 million. The buyer was an investment fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing together with Saxum Real Estate, its operator and manager. JLL Capital Markets brokered the transaction.
The deal was structured as part of a 1031 exchange transaction used to partially fund the $309 million acquisition of two Boston-area shopping centers totaling nearly 1.4 million square feet—Gateway Center in Everett, Mass., and Shoppers World in Framingham, Mass.—from SITE Centers. Urban Edge funded the remaining balance of the purchase with its line of credit.
READ ALSO: What’s Ahead for Industrial?
The sale of the industrial portfolio, located in Morris County, is part of the company’s strategy of acquiring high-quality retail real estate with future growth potential. The REIT, which owns and operates 76 properties totaling 17.2 million square feet, is actively negotiating the disposition of more than $100 million of non-core assets.
A Northern New Jersey industrial portfolio
Located at 901, 903-906, 601 Murray Road and 151 Ridgedale Ave., the light industrial portfolio is spread across seven buildings that were fully leased at the time of sale by a total of 13 tenants. Key features include an average clear height of 21 feet and 945 total parking spaces.
The properties are in the high barrier-to-entry and supply-constrained market of Northern New Jersey. One of the properties, 151 Ridgedale Ave., was acquired in October 2021. The 187,013-square-foot Paper Mart warehouse and distribution center had originally been owned by Urban Edge’s predecessor, Vornado Realty Trust. Vornado spun off Urban Edge into a separate company in January 2015. Vornado had sold the 9.17-acre property to Paper Mart in 1978. Purchasing the site back from Paper Mart in 2021 gave Urban Edge ownership of all the commercial assets on the block.
The Morris County submarket is the fourth largest submarket in Northern New Jersey, representing more than 33.4 million square feet of industrial space.
Arranged by JLL
JLL Capital Markets arranged the deal, representing the seller and procuring the buyer. The Investment Sales and Advisory team was led by Jose Cruz, Marc Duval, Jordan Avanzato, Nick Stefans, Jason Lundy and Austin Pierce.
In another recent transaction, three JLL brokers secured a $869 million financing package for an 11.4 million-square-foot industrial portfolio. The fully leased properties have an average completion date of 2020.
You must be logged in to post a comment.