85 Herman St. in East Rutherford — Courtesy: Deugen Development
By Joshua Burd
Deugen Development has sold a nearly 48,000-square-foot industrial building in East Rutherford, in the culmination of a redevelopment plan that began less than three years ago.
The buyer, Sagard Real Estate, paid an undisclosed price for the newly built property at 85 Herman St., where Deugen completed a project that included environmental remediation of a former manufacturing site and ground-up construction. That paved the way for a lease with Restaurant Technologies, a provider of cooking oil management and back-of-house cleaning solutions, which now benefits from a location just over a mile from Route 17 and minutes from Route 3 and the New Jersey Turnpike.
“As builder and developer, Deugen’s vertically integrated team was able to secure approvals, construct and stabilize this property in less than two and a half years, which is nothing short of a miracle,” said Eric Gormeley, CEO of Hoboken-based Deugen Development. “I am proud to deliver this Class A property to the Meadowlands. We believe these smaller infill projects will continue to be an area of strength for Deugen given the high barriers to entry, scarcity of remaining developable sites and larger institutions often focusing their resources on projects of greater scale.
“It was a pleasure working with all parties involved in this transaction and we look forward to our next project!”
According to Deugen, Murphy Schiller & Wilkes LLP provided land use and transactional services, while Procida Funding’s 100 Mile Fund provided the construction debt. Avison Young’s Timothy Cadigan, Matthew Turse, John Gianis and Judy Troiano of the firm’s Morristown office brokered the lease, with Chas Simcox and Mark Evenson of AY’s Minneapolis team representing Restaurant Technologies.
CBRE’s Kevin Dudley, Kate Granahan, Elli Klapper and Brian Fiumara represented Sagard Real Estate, an institutional investor, in its purchase of the building.
“MSW is proud to have played a role in this amazing project,” said Kellen Murphy, MSW’s managing partner. “Our team was involved at every stage, including securing land use approvals, and representing Deugen in connection with the property acquisition, construction financing, lease negotiations and the sale of the property. Our firm truly values our relationship with Deugen Development and wishes them and everyone involved in this transaction continued success.”
Deugen acquired the former Sun Chemical property in 2022 before remediating and securing approvals for the new industrial project, seeking to satisfy the ongoing need for e-commerce and last-mile delivery. The building includes about 3,000 square feet of office space, parking for 41 vehicles and more than 45,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Jeff Kiesel, CEO and president of Restaurant Technologies, said the new location “will continue to accelerate our growth in northern New Jersey and elevate service to over 1,500 existing customers in the greater New York City metropolitan market.”
“We look forward to pursuing the best opportunities for growth and service in the future as we quickly approach 40,000 customers nationwide,” Kiesel said.
Avison Young touts sale of ex-manufacturing site in East Rutherford to Deugen
