100 Commons Way in Rockaway — Courtesy: Newmark
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture has acquired a 352,461-square-foot printing plant in Rockaway for $39 million, in a deal arranged by Newmark’s tristate capital markets team.
Brokers with the firm represented a private seller in the transaction at 100 Commons Way, which is leased long-term to Gannett and serves as a regional facility for the country’s largest newspaper publisher. They also procured the buyer, a partnership between institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Ivy Realty, touting the site’s location less than two miles from Interstate 80.
Newmark Executive Managing Director Kevin Welsh, Managing Director Brian Schulz, Associate Jason Emrani and Transaction Manager Maria Betancourt spearheaded the deal with support from Managing Director Chris Koeck.
“The buyer was attracted to the property for its compelling in-place yield and upside driven by below-market rent and lower basis, along with its long-term redevelopment potential,” Welsh said. “The combination of these investment features is rare to find in today’s ‘white-hot’ industrial market.”
Sitting on 45.8 acres, the printing, assembly and distribution facility was completed in 1989 as a build-to-suit for what was then North Jersey Media Group. The facility was expanded in 2006 with clear heights above 45 feet to support the tenant’s growing operations, with significant investments in equipment and base building systems.
Gannett uses the facility to produce and distribute multiple publications across the New York metro region, Newmark said.