By Joshua Burd
A fully occupied, 220,000-square-foot industrial building in South Brunswick has changed hands in a sale brokered by Cushman & Wakefield, the firm announced Tuesday.
Ivy Equities sold the property, located at 51 Commerce Drive, for an undisclosed price, C&W said in a news release. TIAA Global Asset Management was the buyer.
Gary Gabriel headed the assignment with Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Brian Whitmer, Kyle Schmidt and Andrew MacDonald, all of C&W’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group. In the news release, Gabriel said Ivy Equities invested more than $1 million to remove mezzanine space, modernize the sprinkler system, install LED lighting and build new office restrooms.
“This property was occupancy-challenged when Ivy acquired it, but today serves as a turnaround success story,” Gabriel said. He noted that the capital improvements helped drive occupancy to 100 percent, with an average in-place lease term of 9.4 years.
Occupants include long-time tenant Lenox and newer arrivals EDA International, Salesmaster Associates and Halsted Corp., the news release said.
The property sits on 14 acres and two turns from New Jersey Turnpike Exit 8A, 45 miles from New York City and 55 miles from Philadelphia.
“Exit 8A has long been New Jersey’s strongest industrial market, and investor and tenant demand both continue unabated,” Schmidt said. “We are seeing far more dollars than deals in 2016. The sale of 51 Commerce provides an example of how quality, leased real estate — whether or not it is first-generation space — is attracting strong interest.”
