The former Ballantine Brewery site at 424 East Ferry St. in Newark — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture has acquired the former Ballantine Brewery site in Newark for $61 million, adding a 1.1 million-square-foot, multitenant industrial complex in the port submarket.
Brokers with JLL represented RAR Development Associates in the sale of 424 East Ferry St., a five-building complex in the city’s Ironbound section. Turnbridge Equities and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management acquired the 22-acre site, which is bifurcated by Ferry Street.
JLL managing directors Thomas Walsh and Joseph Garibaldi and Vice President Katelyn Borovsky led the capital markets team that represented both parties.
“The Ballantine Brewery is the largest offering of existing real estate in the Port submarket, New Jersey’s most vital industrial and manufacturing market,” Walsh said. “This was a terrific value-add opportunity for Turnbridge and JPMorgan to thoroughly renovate and reposition the property for use by multiple tenants. There are not many opportunities remaining in the Port submarket for small to midsize industrial tenants to find well-located and modern industrial space.”
In a news release, JLL said the property was originally owned and operated by P. Ballantine & Sons. The complex closed in 1972 and was ultimately repositioned as a functional multitenant industrial asset with additional land for the development of warehouse/distribution buildings.
The five existing structures range in size from 25,000 to 726,601 square feet, JLL said, while the property is about 85 percent leased to 30 tenants ranging from 2,500 to 159,287 square feet. The average tenant size is about 28,000 square feet.