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underwriting. Romano, for his part
“had the 30 years of experience
behind him and the reputation and
wherewithal to pick up the phone
and make deals and have people
listen to him.”
Known as Accordia Realty Ventures,
the fi rm initially focused on
commercial and medical offi ce
properties and small-mixed use
assets in the $10 to $30 million
range. The company would soon
go after larger deals as it moved
into the industrial and multifamily
sectors, with a portfolio that at one
point grew to more than 3 million
square feet before several recent
dispositions.
Among several projects, it was a
partner and development manager
for the fi rst phase of Harrison Yards,
which had 192 luxury apartments
and ground-fl oor retail space steps
from the Harrison PATH station. It
also built and sold a 133,000-square-
foot industrial facility in Linden
and, in tandem with EverWest
Real Estate Investors, acquired a
369,000-square-foot warehouse in
South Brunswick while developing
Rendering by Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners/Courtesy: Accordia
Accordia’s development pipeline includes a planned 95-unit multifamily project at 780 Passaic Ave. in West Caldwell, for which it
hopes to secure approvals this fall.
some 200,000 square feet of new
space on adjacent land.
But Romano decided late last year
that he would retire after some fi ve
decades in the business, leaving the
company’s future in Bogart’s hands.
The latter began to craft a new vision
and business plan for Accordia with
the help of Chris Hayes, the fi rm’s
managing director and longtime head
of property management, one that
focused on three distinct strategies:
acquisitions and capital markets,
development and third-party
property and asset management.
“The timing just felt right with the
markets slowing down,” Bogart
said, pointing to the estimated
$1.5 trillion in debt that will come
due for commercial landlords
before 2026. “A lot of that we
could see in the market around
us — the loans that had been made
to certain borrowers, to certain
assets. We could see how they