200 Metro Blvd. at the ON3 campus in Nutley and Clifton — Courtesy: Prism Capital Partners
By Joshua Burd
Prism Capital Partners is crafting plans for the first ground-up office project at its ON3 campus, hiring an architectural firm to design a new two-building complex on the Clifton side of the property.
The developer has retained Chicago-based Goettsch Partners to oversee the design, according to a news release. Early plans call for two towers that would add roughly 400,000 square feet of headquarters-quality space to the 116-acre site, which is already home to several legacy office buildings from its days as the Hoffmann-LaRoche research campus.
“This project could mark the first new trophy-grade, multi-tenant construction that the Northern New Jersey office market has seen in quite some time, and it is a true indicator of what’s to come,” said Eugene Diaz, a principal partner with Prism. “We are thrilled to retain Goettsch Partners — a firm known for creating innovative, headquarters-quality structures of the finest class — as architect.”
The developer, which has been working to reposition the site since acquiring it in fall 2017, touted Goettsch Partners’ portfolio of completed and active projects. The projects span five continents and range in type and size, Prism said, while the design firm also has offices in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi.
ON3’s existing office space in Nutley and Clifton has drawn major interest from well-known users, thanks in large part to its location on Route 3, just nine miles from Manhattan, and Prism’s mixed-use redevelopment plan. For instance, the Ralph Lauren Corp. has signed a full-building lease for about 250,000 square feet at 100 Metro Blvd.
“For many years, office projects in New Jersey have centered on the repositioning of aging suburban campuses,” Diaz said. “Our planned ground-up development at ON3 is the direct result of unprecedented interest and space inquiries from corporate tenants.”
ON3 has also attracted Quest Diagnostics, which has broken ground on a 250,000-square-foot diagnostic testing facility in Clifton, along with the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University and several other affiliated research facilities.
Prism expects that corporate tenants and users will employ more than 5,500 people at ON3 by 2021, the news release said, while the ongoing redevelopment is creating hundreds of construction jobs.
