2 and 4 Research Way in Plainsboro — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
The owner of a nearly 462,000-square-foot office portfolio in Plainsboro has put the properties on the market for sale, presenting what brokers say is a broad range of value-add options.
A listing team with JLL said the buildings — 103, 105 and 107 College Road and 2 and 4 Research Way — have an average occupancy of 23.7 percent and a weighted average lease term of 1.6 years among the remaining tenants. That provides a future investor with “a variety of value enhancement possibilities including lease-up, redevelopment or individual asset sales,” in a submarket that still has strong highway access, an affluent population and skilled labor.
JLL noted that the so-called College Park portfolio’s pre-pandemic occupancy — from 2000 to 2019 — averaged 89 percent. At the same time, Plainsboro Township has included 2 and 4 Research Way in their plan for the fourth round of its state-mandated affordable housing obligations, providing a potential direct path to achieving multi-redevelopment approvals.
“An investor has the ability to implement a capital program to modernize the buildings and significantly increase occupancy and income to historical averages,” the team wrote in its marketing materials, later adding: “Situated on over 43 acres, College Park offers upside optionality with multiple potential avenues for value creation. An investor can potentially pursue a mixed-use redevelopment with approvals and/or spin-off individual buildings to other investors or owner-users.”
JLL’s Jose Cruz, Jeremy Neuer, Ryan Robertson, Bradley Wachenfeld and Michael Kavaler are representing the would-be seller, with support from Max Custer of the firm’s debt and equity group and leasing broker Thomas Romano. They said the portfolio — which has a combined 834 surface parking spaces — includes fully vacant buildings at 107 College Road and 4 Research Way, while 103 and 105 College Road are 67.6 and 61.6 percent occupied, respectively, and 2 Research Way is 21 percent leased.
The firm added that the properties, which are adjacent to the 550,000-square-foot mixed-use Princeton Forrestal Village, provide easy access to one of New Jersey’s largest corporate bases and academic institutions such as Princeton University, Rider University and The College of New Jersey. They’re also part of a submarket whose average household income is $212,948 annually, while there is a population of more than 42,000 within a three-mile radius.
