Page 20 - RE-NJ #80 Nov.2023

18 WINTER 2023
2020 Acquisitions, led by CEO Efrem Gerszberg, has opened the new Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson as part of an agreement tied to the firm’s nine-building, 4.2 million- square-foot industrial development in the township.
LINKS AND LOGISTICS
Inside the public-private partnership behind a
4 million sq. ft. industrial hub (and a new golf course)
Efrem Gerszberg, a veteran developer in the state, jokes that he is “getting old in this
business.” But it comes with a serious question for anyone who knows local land use in New Jersey:
“How many times can you fight your way through a town?”
Finding the answer has led to the unique public-private partnership that has taken shape in Old Bridge, where Gerszberg is developing
a new nine-building, 4.2 million- square-foot industrial park on Route 9. Just three miles away, his firm has just opened a bucolic, 18-hole public golf course that it planned, funded and built under an agreement with the township — delivering what local officials say is a signature, long-coveted piece of their open space program.
“It’s rare that you’d have almost a thousand acres undeveloped on a major highway in Central Jersey,”
said Gerszberg, the CEO and sole principal of 2020 Acquisitions. “So when we looked at the scale of this project, we understood that this is not going to be a traditional project.”
What came next was a story of both good will and good business.
“I had to make sure that it was
a no-brainer,” Gerszberg said of
his discussions with Old Bridge township officials. “And the easiest way to make it a no-brainer was by
giving back.”
The partnership comes in a time
of growing tensions between local officials and builders of logistics space across the state, which has weighed on the booming warehouse market in recent months. But 2020 Acquisitions has found a home in Old Bridge for one of the state’s largest projects to date — spanning more than 800 acres — while delivering what it says is New Jersey’s new first public course in
By Joshua Burd
Photos by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ