95 Greene St. in Jersey City — Courtesy: SJP Properties
By Joshua Burd
Thor Equities Group is eyeing plans to reposition a historic building in Jersey City into research and laboratory space, following its recent acquisition of the nearly 340,000-square-foot property.
Brokers with JLL, which represented the seller, announced Friday that Thor had acquired 95 Greene St. for $94.5 million. Located two blocks from the Hudson River, the 337,888-square-foot building is a former Colgate-Palmolive manufacturing facility that later became office space, but is now the latest piece of Thor’s life sciences portfolio.
“Thor Equities is a diverse real estate firm with a dedicated life sciences investment platform,” said Daniel Loughlin, a vice chairman with JLL. “It is committed to a multimillion-dollar capital investment program repositioning the building to a ‘lab ready’ condition enabling expedited delivery of tenant lab improvements and speed to market.
“More importantly, the property is uniquely entitled for R&D and specialty uses. The building’s legacy manufacturing infrastructure provides a highly capable environment for all types of research functions.”
Loughlin completed the sale alongside Jose Cruz, senior managing director and co-head of capital markets in New Jersey; John Cunningham, executive vice president and co-chair of JLL’s life sciences advisory team; Blake Goodman, executive vice president; and John Cahill, senior vice president. JLL did not disclose the seller’s name, but multiple reports have identified SJP Properties as the property’s longtime owner and seller.
Thor, which is based in New York, has picked JLL to continue serving as its exclusive leasing agent at 95 Greene Street.
“Many businesses in New York do not realize that 95 Greene Street is easier to get to then most of New York City’s current life science offerings,” Cahill said, while JLL cited the building’s location near the Exchange Place PATH Station, NY Waterway Ferry service and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail.
The firm added that the building is well-suited for life science, health care and technology tenants, thanks to features such as upgraded and high-volume HVAC, utilities, floor loads, loading docks, on-site parking and high ceilings.
“95 Greene Street caters to the needs of life science firms to recruit scientific and engineering talent in Manhattan and New Jersey, and collaboration with the higher education and medical communities,” Goodman said. “Similar to office sector trends, we see life science firms migrating to urban environments to attract talent.”
In a news release, JLL noted that 95 Greene St. served as a primary manufacturing facility for Colgate-Palmolive until 1987. SJP and what is now PGIM Real Estate later acquired and converted the property into a Class A office building that was occupied by Merrill Lynch for many years.
