Denholtz Properties CEO Steven Denholtz was among the honorees on Thursday, May 16, at NAIOP New Jersey’s 37th annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala, receiving the Charles Klatskin Lifetime Achievement Award. — Photo by Gary Gellman, Gellman Images/Courtesy: NAIOP
By Joshua Burd
It seemed only natural for Steven Denholtz, the winner of this year’s NAIOP New Jersey lifetime achievement award, to evoke the start of his career with his family’s commercial real estate firm.
“When I started out in Carteret, I spent my days in the field and the evenings in the office,” he said, recalling the early 1980s, when the company then known as Denholtz Associates was developing its first industrial building. “That’s where I learned the business.”
It was obvious which part of the business he found most appealing.
“I loved the field. I loved building,” Denholtz added. “I still love building — I love the creative vision, I love the execution of a building plan, I love to see it come to life and be occupied.
“I love it all and feel blessed to be part of the industry.”
The Denholtz Properties CEO was among five honorees at NAIOP New Jersey’s 37th annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala, where the commercial real estate association also recognized three Deal of the Year winners. The reception and networking extravaganza drew more than 800 industry leaders to The Palace at Somerset Park in Franklin, as the chapter unveiled a modified format aimed at enhancing the must-attend gathering.
Besides Denholtz, who received what’s formally known as the Charles Klatskin Lifetime Achievement Award, the recipients included:
- Impact Award: Bethann Rooney, director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Impact Award: CSG Law
- Caren S. Franzini Public Partner Award: Carteret Mayor Daniel J. Reiman
- Industry Service Award: Michael McGuinness, former CEO, NAIOP New Jersey
“Our honorees represent the best of real estate and economic development,” said Mark Shearer, NAIOP New Jersey president and senior managing director for Rockefeller Group’s New Jersey and Pennsylvania development team. “We are inspired by their commitment to excellence and transforming New Jersey communities. All of them have a lasting and positive impact on our state, our industry and our association.”
The chapter on Thursday also revealed 2020 Acquisitions’ Central 9 Logistics Park in Old Bridge as its Industrial Deal of the Year, honoring a nine-building, 4.2 million-square-foot warehouse campus that’s taking shape on Route 9 and signed its first lease in 2023 with Paragon Packaging. The team for the project and the transaction also included Cushman & Wakefield, Giordano Halleran & Ciesla PC, Bohler Engineering, Alston Construction and M+H Architects.
NAIOP honored the project alongside the previously announced Deal of the Year winners in the office and mixed-use categories — Bank of America’s lease at Newport Tower and the sale of Harborside buildings 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, both in Jersey City. The former stemmed from BentallGreenOak’s multimillion-dollar update of the nearly 1.1 million-square-foot building, which drew New Jersey’s only renewal and expansion lease of more than 500,000 square feet in the past decade, with a team that also included Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE.
The Harborside deals, meantime, represent a combined $524 million in investment activity across three transactions. Participants included Cushman, CBRE, Veris Residential Inc., American Equity Partners LLC, Panepinto Properties, Related Cos. and 601W Cos.
“I don’t think any of us could have imagined what the office market would look like today,” said C&W’s David DeMatteis, recalling when the firm began as Newport Tower’s leasing agent in 2019. “When you take that perspective, I cannot underscore the significance of an institution like Bank of America making a 550,000-square-foot, 15-year commitment to New Jersey and the Hudson waterfront.
“This transaction should serve as a playbook for owners and occupiers — an owner willing to speculatively renovate their asset and have amenities deemed necessary by modern workplace standards, a tenant looking to select a vibrant location to entice employees back to the office.”
As always, partnership and NAIOP’s important role in the commercial real estate sector were key themes with the other Deals of the Year and each of the five individual honorees.
“When we talk about partnerships, the development that you see, especially in older urban communities and the brownfield sites that we’re redeveloping, is truly a public-private partnership,” Reiman said. The longtime Carteret mayor highlighted the borough’s coordination with county, state and federal stakeholders and Crow Holdings Development, The Hampshire Cos. and other builders that in recent years have helped infuse its waterfront and downtown with billions of dollars in new investment.
“Central to our success has been the strong collaboration in working with all of these partners, in working with the private sector,” Reiman added. “We don’t shop projects around and have developers come in and say, ‘OK this is what you have to build.’ We let the market dictate what works and what makes sense in the community, and that’s what a lot of towns need to recognize.”
Denholtz, for his part, cited the impact of some close friends in the industry — including the Atkins, Blake, Drobbin, Zimmel and Zaro families, which have done business with his firm for more than 35 years. That’s not to mention his own family and colleagues at Red Bank-based Denholtz Properties, including Executive Assistant Janet Chilnick, Senior Vice President of Leasing Kristine Hurlbut and President Steve Cassidy, all of whom have helped the firm grow from three people to 125 people and from $10 million in assets to $1.7 billion in assets.
“We have an incredible group of people and it’s just getting better and better,” Denholtz said. “It’s a very, very exciting time for us.”
