200 Crossing Blvd. in Bridgewater — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
Brother International Corp. has signed a nearly 83,000-square-foot lease extension for its headquarters in Bridgewater, brokers with JLL said, in a deal that comes as part of a plan to right-size its space while allowing its landlord to update the building’s amenities.
The maker of home office and business products and sewing machines, a tenant at 200 Crossing Blvd. since 2013, will stay in place for at least another five years by way of the deal with Alexander Properties. According to JLL, the company will reconfigure its footprint to occupy the entire fifth and sixth floors, while it will shed a fourth-floor multipurpose room as ownership looks to add new amenities and conference space on another floor for common tenant use.
The lease extension follows a space utilization study that JLL conducted to provide Brother with critical data that would help it maximize its real estate footprint to best suit business goals and employee comfort.
“Even before the COVID pandemic, we partnered with JLL to assess our space utilization and needs for optimal performance based on our new hybrid work policies,” Brother International Corp. President Don Cummins said. “In collaboration with the landlord, our new space will not only align with our business objectives but also improve the employee experience through a collaborative workspace, while optimizing our footprint for efficiency.”
JLL Senior Managing Director Scott Lesh, Executive Vice President Jonathan Ortiz and Associate Callie Lloyd serve as real estate advisers to Brother and represented the company in the new 82,763-square-foot lease, while Avison Young Principal William McCaffrey represented Alexander Properties. The brokers noted that, in addition to building the new second-floor amenities, the landlord has retained a new food service operator to enhance the menu offerings and improve the cafeteria.
Brother, meantime, is making significant capital improvements to its office with a modern design, an ADA-compliant and gender-neutral bathroom and refreshed common areas that promote collaboration.
“This is a win-win for the tenant and the landlord,” Lesh said. “Our space utilization review highlighted what was working and what wasn’t and now the tenant will have a refreshed and modern new space and the building will have a premium shared conferencing amenity that tenants can use when they need it. We are thrilled to have been able to work with all parties to
reach an ideal solution to their real estate needs.”
JLL added that Brother or BIC-USA has deep roots in the community and is active in many organizations, including the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Franklin Foodbank and the Somerset County Business Partnership. Its last renewal came in 2020, when it occupied 101,724 square feet or more than a third of the eight-story, 298,911-square-foot building at the intersection of Route 22 and Commons Way.
Built in 2002, 200 Crossing Blvd. is one of two mirror-image office buildings within Bridgewater Crossing. It’s part of the master-planned, mixed-use Bridgewater Commons commercial complex and includes amenities such as a full-service cafeteria, a café, a fitness center, a conference center and an on-site helipad, among others.
The property also has a solar panel array and an energy management system that helped the building achieve Energy Star certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, JLL said. In 2017, the complex was recognized by the Building Owners and Managers Association’s Middle Atlantic Region as The Outstanding Building of the Year in its Suburban Midrise category.
Brother International renews 102,000 sq. ft. headquarters lease in Bridgewater, JLL says
