25 Market St. in Elmwood Park — All photos courtesy: Crow Holdings Development
By Joshua Burd
A new warehouse in Elmwood Park has come with great expectations and great anticipation. Fittingly so, for a building that evokes the iconic Marcal Paper factory on Interstate 80.
It’s why Clark Machemer was eager to show off the facility’s exterior during a recent open house with brokers — not to mention its nearly 207,000 square feet of modern industrial space that’s now ready for a tenant.
“We’re excited to make sure everyone is aware the building is done,” said Machemer, a senior managing director with Crow Holdings Development. “And I think the architecture is unique. Our hope is to empower the brokerage community to go to their clients and say, ‘Hey, there is a unique building, with great visibility and a great presence on 80.’ Hopefully that will spur some interest in the building.
“My goal is always to arm the brokerage community with information they can use to share with their clients. That’s what we want to accomplish today.”
All that the facility has to offer — inside and outside — was on display late last month as Crow Holdings and its JLL leasing team welcomed some of the state’s top industrial specialists. As the developer noted, the single-story building at 25 Market St. has classic architecture with a brick exterior and black window mullions inspired by the historic Marcal warehouse that made the site a local landmark, along with large, translucent glass accent light boxes that pay homage to the neon “Marcal” sign that was long visible on I-80.
The structure also has build-to-suit office space and 40-foot clear ceiling heights, as well as 56 trailer stalls, 32 exterior loading docks with two drive-in doors and parking for 200 vehicles. All of which figures to draw a new tenant to the project, which has brought new life to the 12-acre site after the Marcal complex was decimated by a fire in early 2019.
“It’s something you typically wouldn’t see, as far as the four walls go,” said Jason Crimmins, president of The Blau & Berg Co. “Especially with this lobby area, it’s something to be desired.”
Other brokers had a similar take on the building, designed by M+H Architects, citing both its infrastructure and an exterior that conjures Marcal’s heyday.
“It’s reminiscent of yesteryear here in Elmwood Park,” said Bill Waxman, a vice chair with Cushman & Wakefield. “It gives it the old factory look, and I think it’s something that other developers should consider doing.”
He added that the building’s aesthetic could easily strike a chord with “an image tenant — somebody looking for a different kind of building.” NAI James E. Hanson’s Scott Perkins agreed, especially with its visibility on I-80, and it’s a potential differentiator in a market that has slowed to a more normal pace after a stretch of record-breaking demand and rent growth.
“It just means you have to work a little bit harder to get a deal done, but there’s definitely deals getting done,” said Perkins, a senior vice president with Teterboro-based NAI Hanson.
SLIDESHOW: 25 Market St. in Elmwood Park
The JLL leasing agents for the property include Ignatius Armenia, Rob Kossar, Chris Hile, Ryan Milanaik and David Knee. They’re likely to field strong interest in a site that is immediately off I-80’s Exit 61, providing quick access to routes 46, 21 and 3 and other highways.
Machemer’s team, which developed the site with Marcal owner Atlas Holdings, said the support from officials in Elmwood Park has been critical. But that support is not a given in today’s real estate industry, he said, given the growing backlash against warehouses across the state.
Architecture could be part of the solution, he said.
“I think it’s incumbent on the industry to step up its game on the look of the buildings,” Machemer said. “We all wonder why we’re the bad boy in the state. And I think if we all spent just a couple more bucks on design, I think we’d be received a little differently by towns throughout the state.”
That’s not to mention that architects “want to be challenged, and we wanted to challenge them” in the case of the Elmwood Park building. He expects that to continue with future CHD projects.
“We want every project to have a different story so that we can talk about it a little bit differently,” he said. “It just gets us excited to move on to that next project.”
Crow Holdings delivers new 207,000 sq. ft. warehouse at iconic Marcal site in Elmwood Park
