Sudler Cos.’ two-building industrial complex at 286 Prospect Plains Road and 300 Prospect Plains Road in Cranbury — Courtesy: Sudler
By Joshua Burd
Sudler Cos. has started 2021 at nearly full occupancy across its portfolio after a year in which it saw 1.2 million square feet of leasing velocity.
The Chatham-based firm said it set a company record in 2020 with respect to leasing within its 8 million-square-foot collection of industrial buildings. The portfolio is more than 98 percent leased and 100 percent leased within two of its core submarkets, Lakewood and Cranbury, where it has been speculatively redeveloping defunct office buildings and building new warehouse and logistics properties.
To that end, Sudler in 2018 razed a 500,000-square-foot office property in Cranbury and built two industrial buildings. The properties were fully leased prior to completion by two tenants with a combined 770,000 square feet.
“(We) continue to transform our portfolio with similar strategies,” said Peter Sudler, the firm’s chairman and CEO, who was joined last year by sons Brian and Daniel Sudler. Both are now guiding its development and investment expansions nationally, which includes markets such as Florida, California and the Washington, D.C. metro market.
In the Southeast alone, Sudler has more than 4 million square feet under development.
“Our company’s historic capacity and willingness to use our own capital to expand our portfolio speculatively represents an enormous opportunity to prospective tenants,” Peter Sudler said. “As we continue to develop and expand the Sudler portfolio, the greatest challenge of 2021 will be addressing the expanding needs of our existing tenants and developing sites in the major markets and that of the Southeastern U.S.”
In its home state, Sudler recently secured a renewal and expansion by longtime tenant Renaissance Lakewood LLC, a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization. The company is expanding into a three-building campus on Paco Way in Lakewood, including a 31,200-square-foot laboratory and logistics facility and an 80,000-square-foot build-to-suit industrial building now under construction.
“Renaissance has thrived in its Sudler Lakewood locations for more than 20 years, and our expansion into new facilities is a strategically important moment for our organization,” said James Hamilton, vice president of operations for Renaissance.
Sudler inks two big-box industrial deals at former office site in Cranbury
