By Joshua Burd
A subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Allergan has acquired two Branchburg office buildings where it had just signed leases for more than 280,000 square feet, according to the real estate services firm Newmark Knight Frank.
Brokers said Allergan Sales LLC and the subsidiary, LifeCell Corp., acquired 1 Millennium Way and 4 Millennium Way from the now-former landlord, Murray Construction. The buildings, which span 136,283 square feet and 147,000 square feet, respectively, are part of the Branchburg Corporate Campus off Route 202 in Somerset County.
Terms were not disclosed.
Newmark Knight Frank Vice Chairman and New Jersey Chief Operating Officer David Simson represented Murray Construction. A JLL team of Dan Loughlin, international director and broker lead, and Vice President Jodie Matthews represented the tenant and eventual buyer.
“Our organization is delighted to assist the ownership with the sale of 4 Millennium and stabilization of the long-term lease at 1 Millennium to create value to the entrepreneurial family which owns the Branchburg,” Simson said.
The deal comes after LifeCell, a developer of regenerative tissue products, signed a new 12-year lease to maintain its headquarters at 1 Millennium Way. Simultaneously, the brokerage teams negotiated the acquisition of 4 Millennium Way for Allergan Sales LLC.
Michael Nachtome, chief operating officer of Murray Construction, led the efforts on the transaction on behalf of the seller, working with Robert Brown of Epstein, Brown & Gioia LLC.
“We are very pleased with LifeCell’s long-term renewal and are excited to welcome Allergan to the park,” Nachtome said. “We look forward to many years working together.”
Allergan completed a $2.9 billion acquisition of LifeCell earlier this year. The Dublin-based pharmaceutical giant also made news in New Jersey’s real estate sector last year, signing the largest office lease of 2016 with a 431,500-square-foot commitment in Madison.
Both Newmark Knight Frank and JLL were involved in last year’s deal.
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