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REALESTATENJTM 11
    in the finished product. That includes hydration
to a decision to incorporate features such as additional windows into future projects, as it plans to do with another upcoming development in Central Jersey.
“When we look at all of our projects ... we’re constantly revising what we’re going to deliver as our base spec,” said Abramsohn, whose firm has since sold the Kuehne + Nagel building for $37.9 million. “We’re constantly making sure that we’re delivering a high-quality product, but we’re also making sure that it evolves appropriately for the end user so that it’s always going to be a Class A, highly desirable facility for their use and they’re going to be happy there.
“So we’re always evaluating that and saying, ‘What could we do better?’ ”
Experts caution that pursuing WELL certification can be an exacting, expensive proposition for an end user. But there is little doubt that health and safety will at least be a growing priority for industrial tenants, regardless of whether they invest in the WELL platform.
“The world has changed — we know that,” said Kim Snyder, Prologis’
  Kuehne + Nagel is hoping to achieve WELL certification at 200 Ridge Road in Piscataway with features such as large, storefront windows that are meant to bring in natural light and create a connection to the outside, along with skylights and clerestory windows as part of a building developed by Rockefeller Group.
access to quality water, lighting and thermal comfort.
To help meet WELL’s requirements for mental health, the building features large, storefront windows in place of dock doors to create a connection to the outside, Rodriguez-Burns said. The property also features an idle- free zone to cut down on combustion and improve air quality, along with direct access to the site’s walking trails and detention pond.
That’s not to mention additions such as a private shuttle to the nearby Bound Brook train station and the type of fitness center one would find in an office or luxury apartment building.
“At the high level, what we’re trying to do is change behavior through design-related outcomes,” Rodriguez- Burns said. “And we know that if you give them the opportunity, if you give people the space, they’re probably going to use it. The fitness center is just a really good manifestation of the tenant’s commitment to healthier outcomes for their employees.”
Abramsohn said that, even while negotiations with Kuehne + Nagel were still ongoing, the Rockefeller team became comfortable that the changes to the core and shell would make for a more marketable building regardless of whether the deal reached the finish line. That has carried over
made those discussions even more relevant.
“WELL is a great platform for us to be having those conversations,” said Maniktala, who spoke during the I.CON Virtual
panel on June 24,
in a discussion
moderated by
Rockefeller’s
Abramsohn.
“But it still
requires that we
do our analysis
as design and
project teams to help still make value- based decisions around health, similar to what we’ve been doing around environment and energy ... for over a decade.”
At Rockefeller Group Logistics Center, where the developer repurposed a former brownfield site in Piscataway, Kuehne + Nagel is one of six tenants at the five-building,
2.1 million-square-foot complex. It was around late 2018, early in its discussions with the developer, that the global transport firm expressed
its desire to pursue both LEED and WELL certification, as Rockefeller was already a few months into its site work for the speculative project.
For Abramsohn and his team, pursuing WELL standards would impact the building’s core and shell by requiring skylights, clerestory windows and other means of allowing in natural light.
“That was not something we had considered until it was brought to us,” Abramsohn said. “And once it was it brought to us, we embraced
it and we worked with Kuehne + Nagel and their client, so it was a very interesting process.”
Of course, WELL certification is a two-pronged process that ties into both structural design and how the tenant builds out and behaves within the space. Andres Rodriguez-Burns, an associate with BranchPattern, said the abundance of natural light accounted for “the most memorable and tangible representations” of Kuehne + Nagel’s space once it opened in fall 2019, but there were a host of other key features
western region president. “We have to adapt and we have to make all of these buildings a good place to work, a comfortable, safe place to work and an efficient
Andres Rodriguez-Burns
stations throughout
the building, a modern lighting system and high-velocity, low-speed fans to help meet standards for
  Nate Maniktala
Kim Snyder
place for business to prosper.
“Business needs to make money to be able to hire people to have all of this prosperity, so it’s a very challenging merger of agendas and objectives.” RE
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