Crown Realty and Paramount Realty are investing $25 million to transform the six-building, 668,107-square-foot River Centre campus at 331 Newman Springs Road in Middletown — Courtesy: Newmark
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture is investing $25 million to revitalize a nearly 670,000-square-foot office campus outside Red Bank, where it has tapped Newmark as its exclusive leasing agent.
The owners, Crown Realty and Paramount Realty, hope to extend their momentum at the six-building River Centre property after a series of recent leases, including a 100,000-square-foot commitment by RB Animal Hospital. Its plans for the site now include new entrances and facades, activated terraces, a new HVAC system and roof enhancements, along with building management systems, new corridors, upgraded common spaces and a tenant app to access amenities.
Newmark Senior Managing Director Jamie Drummond and Associate Director Andrew Perrotti are leading the leasing team at the property, which is located at 331 Newman Springs Road in Middletown.
“River Centre is one of the largest office assets in the region, and we are deploying a significant amount of capital to revamp the property to create a campus-like setting that is more akin to a modern and amenitized tech campus in Silicon Valley,” said Maurice Zekaria, president of Paramount Realty. “We look forward to further cementing this campus as an integral part of the community.”
SLIDESHOW: Revamping River Centre
River Centre spans 668,107 square feet across a north and a south campus, according to a news release, with existing tenants such as UBS, Withum, Wells Fargo, Innocor FXI and Achieve 3000. The complex already has a recently updated amenity building that houses a high-end fitness center, a café, a conferencing center and a tenant lounge, while ownership has retained architecture firm Blackey Hayes to further transform the campus.
Additional plans call for extensive outdoor upgrades to create a more walkable environment that embraces pedestrian-only spaces, along with improved landscaping and recreation areas, the news release said. Additionally, Crown Realty and Paramount have enlisted landscape architects LRK and Ground Level to revamp the property’s exteriors and include a river walk that allows tenants to experience the adjacent Navesink River.
Newmark added that River Centre will soon have a new 120,000-square-foot Lifetime fitness center on the northern campus and a new Starbucks on the southern campus.
“Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a major flight to quality for office users looking to locate in modern, creative and amenitized spaces,” Drummond said. “The commencement of the major overhaul of River Centre will further the center’s ability to attract and retain some of the best firms in the region.”
Other recent transactions at the property include a 25,000-square-foot lease by Sycamore Medical and a 15,000-square-foot deal with Alliant Insurance, while Newmark is marketing spaces ranging from 3,000 to 110,000 square feet. It hopes to lure additional users with a location that is minutes from downtown Red Bank, along the Garden State Parkway and near a four-way interchange connecting several key highways.
River Centre is also easily accessible via NJ Transit and Academy Bus Lines, while ownership provides tenants with free shuttle service from the Red Bank station.