The Connell Co. recently launched a public membership program for Fieldhouse 400, a new full-service health club at The Park in Berkeley Heights, that’s available to the community at large as well as tenants of an attached office building and renters at the property’s future apartment buildings. — Courtesy: Connell
The reinvention of the suburban office park has become a familiar theme in New Jersey. Fortunately so, given the alarming glut of vacant, obsolete buildings that dot our highways, many of them prime candidates to be torn down and redeveloped.
That’s anything but the case at The Park in Berkeley Heights, where The Connell Co. is overseeing something far more ambitious. As you’ll read in this month’s cover story, the firm is entering a new phase of its decade-long, $500 million update of the 185-acre campus along Interstate 78, with construction underway on new residential, dining and entertainment spaces that will create a town square for workers and residents alike. Connell has already taken steps toward opening the corporate park to the public — offering gym memberships and nighttime social events inside its renovated office space — all with a level of branding and merchandising that is unlike anything seen at other commercial properties in the state.
Those efforts will be on full display by mid-2026, when Connell expects to open the new mixed-use, Main Street-style corridor known as The District.
“The goal is a 20-minute neighborhood — everything you need is within 20 minutes,” said Shane Connell, the firm’s executive vice president, envisioning a collection of resort-style brands, services and facilities that make The Park a unique offering in New Jersey.
Elsewhere in this edition, we highlight Fidelco Realty Group’s ongoing turnaround of a historic office tower in downtown Newark. The firm acquired 550 Broad St. in mid-2019 and withstood the pandemic that crippled the market less than a year later, thanks in part to its vast experience and wherewithal. Perhaps equally critical was its decision to pursue a diverse tenant mix, recognizing a burgeoning demand for smaller, flexible spaces and coworking environments. It has since welcomed an eclectic group ranging from tech startups and foundations to traditional law and engineering firms, fueling 130,000 square feet of new leasing activity and another 65,000 square feet of renewals, expansions or relocations of existing tenants.
Our February issue also includes our coverage of a project that has brought new life to an iconic industrial property in Newark. As you’ll read, Shorewood Real Estate Group welcomed city officials and other well-wishers last month to unveil The Ballantine, a collection of 280 apartments in the city’s Ironbound section. That project followed an $88 million redevelopment of the historic Ballantine Brewery site, bringing new market-rate and affordable housing to the East Ward and setting the stage for additional projects nearby.
You can find those stories and more in the latest issue of Real Estate NJ, which follows an incredibly busy January for not just our publication, but for many of you I’ve spoken in the new year. Let’s hope that there’s more where that came from and that 2025 turns out to be the return to normalcy (or prosperity) that many of you have long called for.
Until next time, thanks for reading and enjoy the issue!
Joshua Burd
Editor
