A rendering of Best Buy’s new distribution and customer service center in Piscataway — Courtesy: Rockefeller Group
By Joshua Burd
A new Best Buy distribution center is slated to open in Piscataway by this year’s holiday shopping season, under a 725,000-square-foot lease touted Friday by Rockefeller Group.
The developer formally announced that the consumer electronics chain had committed to its new industrial park under construction at 171 River Road, off Interstate 287. The deal, inked late last year, gives Rockefeller its first new tenant at the planned 2.2 million-square-foot complex.
The facility will deliver major appliances and large-screen televisions to more than 90 Best Buy stores and directly to customers throughout New Jersey and parts of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to a news release. The facility will also provide customer service and support for repairs.
“Signing a lease with a high-caliber company like Best Buy at the Rockefeller Group Logistics Center validates our vision for the master-planned development as one of New Jersey’s largest and most sought-after distribution hubs,” said Clark Machemer, senior vice president and regional development officer for Rockefeller Group’s New Jersey/Pennsylvania operations. “Furthermore, the company’s decision to take space in Piscataway is a testament to the market’s recognition of the Interstate 287 corridor as the next frontier for well-located industrial development in the state.”
Best Buy spokesman Jeff Shelman said company was “excited to expand our supply chain capabilities with this new, larger distribution center. With the growth of our appliance business and our strong market share position in home theater, this facility will help us serve our customers more effectively and more efficiently.”
The facility is expected to support around 300 Best Buy and third-party jobs
“We think that Best Buy made a great decision,” Piscataway Mayor Brian C. Wahler said. “We welcome Best Buy to Piscataway and we are excited for the increased economic activity in our community.”
Rockefeller acquired the former brownfield site last summer from Lincoln Equities Group LLC and Real Capital Solutions. The $57 million sale came three years after the sellers purchased the site, which housed a former plastics manufacturing plant and was later remediated by Union Carbide Corp., and secured entitlements and a 30-year tax abatement for development.
At full buildout, the Rockefeller Group Logistics Center will comprise six buildings ranging in size from 200,000 to more than 800,000 square feet, the news release said. Representing a combination of speculative and build-to-suit opportunities, the properties are meant to accommodate users with a wide variety of size and infrastructure requirements.
Rockefeller also touted its flexible transaction options that allow for users to either lease or own space within the complex. Other planned features and amenities include 40-foot building clear heights, excess trailer parking for each individual building, on-site rail service, two means of ingress and egress to the site and an in-place 30-year tax abatement agreement.
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