Morris Corporate Center IV in Parsippany — Courtesy: Newmark Knight Frank
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture has made its latest move in Morris County with the acquisition of a 351,000-square-foot, Class A office complex in Parsippany, in a sale arranged by brokers with Newmark Knight Frank.
The real estate services firm said Tuesday that it represented Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. and Ivy Realty in the sale of Morris Corporate Center IV, located at 369-379 Interpace Pkwy. The buyer, which NKF also procured, is a joint venture of Rubenstein Partners and Vision Real Estate Partners.
Terms were not disclosed.
NKF Executive Managing Director Kevin Welsh, Managing Director Brian Schulz and Associate Chuck Kohaut of the firm’s tristate capital markets team brokered the sale in conjunction with Steven Schultz, executive managing director for capital markets, and David Simson, vice chairman and chief operating officer for NKF in New Jersey.
“I think that there is a general sentiment now among institutions that they’re starting to hone in on very high-quality value-add, where they can reposition the property and create an environment that is rich in amenities and collaborative,” Welsh said. “So we did have a high level of interest.”
Made up of two five-story office buildings, MCC IV spans 350,917 square feet connected by a signature, four-story glass atrium lobby. The building sits at the four-way interchange for interstates 80 and 287, offering access several nearby mixed-use developments and new national retailers in the area.
Welsh said the offering attracted a mix of both institutional and private investors, but said the complex proved to be “an ideal fit” for Rubenstein Partners and VREP, given the joint venture’s track record in Morris County. For instance, the firms have successfully repositioned a 194-acre former Alcatel-Lucent campus in the Whippany section of Hanover, where it built state-of-the-art headquarters campuses for Bayer HealthCare and MetLife Investments.
VREP and Rubenstein have also repositioned a 525,000-square-foot office park in Whippany, thanks in part to the addition of a new central amenities complex.
“When you think about this venture, it has a history of executing on highly successful value-add redevelopments,” Welsh said. “They’re good at what I would call reimagining environments. It’s something that they do very well.”
In a news release, Welsh said MCCIV attracted interest in part because of its “timeless architecture and highly efficient center core floorplates with horizontal and vertical leasing flexibility.” He added: “We are pleased that we were able to navigate the complexities of this transaction and maximize sale proceeds on behalf of Intercontinental and Ivy.”
The property was among the first assignments for Welsh’s team since it joined NKF last year, as the real estate services firm sought to expand its capital markets platform.
“These are exciting times for the growth of our Tri-State Capital Markets Team,” said Simson, the firm’s COO in New Jersey. “The team has executed several assignments on behalf of prominent institutional clients in just six months since joining the firm. We are looking forward to the continued growth of the team as they further establish themselves as a market leader.”
Capital markets brokers Welsh, Schulz join Newmark Knight Frank