Morris Corporate Center IV in Parsippany — Courtesy: Vision Real Estate Partners
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture will set out to connect two pieces of the Morris Corporate Center property in Parsippany, creating what it says is a campus that can support a tenant requirement of more than 500,000 square feet.
Fresh off their acquisition of the properties, Vision Real Estate Partners and Rubenstein Partners offered new hints at their plans for Morris Corporate Center IV phases one and two. The partnership said it was set to begin “an extensive capital and rebranding campaign” for the twin Class A office buildings on Interpace Parkway, which total nearly 700,000 square feet.
The improvements will increase indoor and outdoor amenity space throughout the campus and expand parking with a town-approved parking structure, according to a news release. The unified campus, which will total 30 acres, will be able to accommodate requirements from 10,000 to more than 500,000 square feet.
RELATED: Rubenstein, VREP acquire 351,000 sq. ft. Parsippany complex
“The opportunity to purchase two of Morris County’s best office assets — which we will integrate under a single brand — was highly compelling,” said Sam Morreale, founder and managing partner of Vision Real Estate Partners, or VREP. “Space of this caliber and scope is fairly limited in the Morris County market. As a quality, large-block vacancy, the property offers a distinctive opportunity for headquarters and regional users.”
VREP and Rubenstein acquired the well-known buildings in separate transactions earlier this year. The firms purchased phase one from SJP Properties and Northwestern Mutual, while acquiring phase two from Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. and Ivy Realty.
The trophy properties are around 340,000 square feet and 351,000 square feet, respectively. The new owners touted their location at the four-way interchange of interstates 80 and 287, along with their distinctive granite architecture, highly efficient floorplates and recently upgraded amenity spaces.
Their plans for the campus represent their latest project in Morris County. The firms have successfully repositioned the 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.
RELATED: VREP, Rubenstein acquire another piece of Morris Corporate Center in Parsippany
VREP and Rubenstein have also repositioned The Crossings at Jefferson Park, a 525,000-square-foot office park in Whippany, thanks in part to the addition of a new central amenities complex. The firms last year sold the campus to Barclays, the anchor tenant at the property.
“An affluent, well-educated population; ample, diversified housing options; and access to abundant retail, dining, hospitality and recreational amenities contribute to this submarket’s historic appeal to major corporate users,” said Stephen Card, principal and Mid-Atlantic regional director for Rubenstein Partners. “Our regional, value-add investments with Vision Real Estate Partners have leveraged these advantages as a key component of our successful repositioning plays.”
