Mercer Oak Realty is happy to announce that Philadelphia Insurance Companies has signed a lease for the entire 4th floor at 100 PrincetonSouth Corporate Center.
This lease brings 100 & 200 PrincetonSouth to 85% occupancy.
Learn more about the deal at nj.com or NJB Magazine.
For information on remaining space at PrincetonSouth, please see our properties page.
Hill Wallack, one of the largest and fastest growing law firms in the Princeton area, announced today that they have officially moved into their new headquarters at 21 Roszel Road in West Windsor. The firm now occupies 48,000 sf, the top 2 floors of the recently constructed 62,500 sf building.
Mercer Oak Realty’s Sab Russo represented Hill Wallack on the transaction.
At 7:30 am on Thursday January 29th over 230 Princeton area professionals gathered in the Hyatt Regency Princeton to hear a panel of three local experts present their outlooks for Princeton’s 2015 real estate market. The 2nd annual Real Estate Forecast saw a 50% increase in attendance from last year.
Mercer Oak Realty’s Aubrey Haines presented the company’s Princeton Office Market Report, recounting that 2014 had been a year of significant activity and continued growth for the area.
Haines also spoke at length about the supply constraint that will be seen in the market as absorption rates have been steady and there has been little to no speculative construction of new office buildings. He highlighted larger deals that had been done in the market and also touched on evolving company culture and employee’s expectations of their work and living environments. “These changes will play a significant role in the type of space companies choose to reside in in the coming years. The Princeton market’s shortage of large available spaces and the updated work place demands make build-to-suit options very attractive.” Haines commented.
The event was hosted by the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s REBA (Real Estate Business Alliance) and in addition to Aubrey Haines, the panel included Judson Henderson of Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty, Francis Keene from PNC Wealth Management and was moderated by Tom Gates of Mortgage Master.
Henderson covered Princeton’s residential real estate market and Keene spoke on the current economy. Attendees had a chance to ask the panel questions and a lively discussion ensued ranging from qualities of the Princeton market that makes it so attractive to office tenants to residential buying trends in specific Mercer County submarkets.
You can download the 2015 Princeton Office Market Report here. If you’d like to receive a hard copy, please call (609.452.0200) or email (info@merceroak.com) us.
Last Tuesday we had the opportunity to get to know one of the biggest commercial real estate projects going on in New Jersey.
CREWNJ hosted an event located at, and all about, the Bell Works building- a 2 million sf structure in Holmdel that was formerly called Bell Labs. Sitting on 472 acres, the massive campus was home to over 6,000 engineers and is considered the birthplace of a rather impressive list of inventions including: the development of the first cellular wireless voice transmission technology, the laser, technologies which help make the internet possible, the transistor, and many, many more.
Eero Saarinen, an extremely well known Finnish architect, designed the building (dubbed “The Biggest Mirror Ever” due to the reflective quality of its exterior) and by 1962 scientists were busy creating the future within its walls. Expansions occurred in 1966 and 1982.
The former Bell Labs building is a large rectangle consisting of four rectangular sections at each corner (6 floors high) connected by massive, glass filled atriums. There are corridors located on each of the 6 floors that open up to the atriums on the interior of the building. On the exterior of the building the corridors create bright, glass lined hallways. The corridors (or sky-bridges) and atriums help to connect the space and originally served as a place for scientists to walk around, smoke and chat to help break up the hours spent behind laboratory doors. Unfortunately, by the mid 2000’s the halls began to empty.
This is where the new name, Bell Works, comes in. In September 2013 it was announced that Somerset Development Corporation purchased the property for $27 million. Somerset has envisioned a redevelopment of the property- creating a Town Center for Holmdel within the massive building, eventually including some housing and outdoor recreation spaces in future phases.
Last Tuesday’s CREWNJ event presented a panel of professionals who have been working on the project: Tom Michnewicz, CEO of Somerset Development, Michael Bruno Esq. Giordano, Helleran & Ciesla, P.C. – Land Use and Redevelopment Counsel, Duane Davison, Esq. Township of Holmdel Counsel and Alexander Gorlin, Alexander Gorlin Architect, LLC.
The conversation detailed how they hope to give life back to the building while still preserving its historic importance. The mixed use environment is to include first floor retail, restaurants & bars, a hotel, fitness centers, spa, green space, and office- all centered around a pedestrian friendly “street” located in the largest central atrium space. In essence, the building will become its own mini-city. Inspiration has been taken from the classic, clean modernist design and will be meticulously applied to project moving forward.
Will this redevelopment be the grandest experiment to take place at this historic site to date?
And will it set a new example for the repurposing of outdated office space in the Garden State?
We’re looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Learn more about the Bell Works project at their website: bell.works.
We are looking forward to the 2nd annual Princeton Real Estate Forecast coming up at the end of this month. On January 29th, our CEO, Aubrey Haines, and a panel of other Princeton area real estate professionals will be discussing their economic predictions for 2015. There was a great turn out for the 2014 Real Estate Forecast and a lot of thoughtful discussion. We look forward to an even better event this year.
If you’re free on the 29th, please join us at the Hyatt Regency Princeton for breakfast and thought provoking conversation. We hope to see you there!
Please click here to register on the Princeton Chamber website.
Details at a glance: 2015 Real Estate Forecast
Brought to you by: Princeton Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate Business Alliance
Panel featuring: Judson Henderson (Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty), Aubrey Haines (Mercer Oak Realty), Paul Anastos (Mortgage Master) and Tom Gates (Mortgage Master) as Moderator
When: Thursday, January 29th – 7:45 am until 10:00 am (Breakfast included)
Where: Hyatt Regency Princeton
2014 is drawing to a close. The coming of the New Year is, naturally, a time of reflection. What did your 2014 hold? We hope a lot of success and fond memories.
What about in our commercial real estate world? NJBiz took some time to recap their biggest real estate stories of 2014. What made their list? Do you have any additions?
We here at Mercer Oak Realty wish you and yours a very enjoyable New Years celebration and a healthy and prosperous 2015!
GlaxoSmithKline’s looming job cuts
Earlier this fall it became known that GlaxoSmithKline, British drugmaker, was planning a restructuring of their U.S. operations over the next three years. GSK plans to eliminate $1.57 billion in annual expenses. Details began to surface early this week (read more on njbiz.com) and fears that some of the jobs located in the Parsippany office would be lost began to grow. Once Wednesday rolled around, GSK had announced that there would be significant (upwards of 900 jobs) cuts from North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park and consolidations would happen in Philadelphia offices, with no firm news on New Jersey jobs(details at philly.com).
Camden’s mystery company revealed
Monday morning brought us news from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority: $100 million more incentives and 1,000 jobs were heading to Camden. (full story at Philadelphia Business Journal) At the time, there was no official disclosure of what company would be creating those jobs, although there were suspicions about who it could be. Suspicions were confirmed today when Subaru announced that they would be moving to the Campbell Gateway district. (follow-up article from the Philadelphia Business Journal with new information)
Expanding definition of sustainability
Generally, when one thinks of sustainable practices in office buildings green roofs, rainwater collection and solar panels come to mind. While these are all helpful, companies are finding different ways to be more green. Wyndham Worldwide has a headquarters campus in Parsippany that is prime example on the evolution of a company’s sustainability policy. (learn about it on njbiz.com here)
Ground Breaking on Route 1
NRG Energy, a power generation and retail electricity business, broke ground on its new 130,000 sf Headquarters this week in West Windsor. NRG currently occupies about 90,000 sf in the Princeton market- in 2 buildings. $37.5 million in tax incentives are helping the company consolidate and move less than a mile across Route 1, where the new, environmentally sustainable facility will feature a living wall, 2 solar panel fields, rainwater collection, wind turbines, electric vehicle charging stations (along with a myriad of other green features) and house 540 employees; 386 of which are existing and about 150 will be new.
NRG CEO, David Crane made the following statement during his remarks at the ceremony: “None of us will have a full appreciation of this new building until it’s fully built and outfitted and occupied. At that point, I think we will really recognize that it’s not just another suburban office spot, but rather a living and breathing organism that hopefully every day will inspire its inhabitants to accomplish great and important things.”
Is this a taste of what is to come in the Princeton market? Read the full story on the NRG Groundbreaking here, on nj.com.
Tax Credits to Cash
The New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer (NOL) Program allows companies to sell NJ tax losses and/or research and development tax credits to unaffiliated, profitable corporate taxpayers in the State. Advantix, a biochemical company based in Princeton, announced its preliminary approval for a $1.9 million 2014 tax credit that it plans to transfer to $1.7 million in cash. Get the details on njbiz.com, here.
Princeton REIT CEO Steps Down
Chambers Street Properties Founder, CEO & President Jack Cuneo announced that he is retiring. Chambers Street Properties is a real estate investment trust in Downtown Princeton and was founded in 2004. The company is currently seeking a replacement. Njbiz.com has a full write-up on this announcement.
You may have noticed a new feature on our website- Marketour. Have you checked it out yet?
Marketour is a tool for any company interested in learning more about office space in the Princeton Market.
“Marketour started out as an in-house presentation tool years ago. Working with our tenant representation clients, we realized just how useful having an unbiased, birds eye view of the entire Princeton market is. We eat, breath and sleep this market, so we are constantly aware of what is and isn’t available. Our clients are too busy running their own businesses to pay attention to that.” explains CEO, Aubrey Haines. “With Marketour, companies can browse the market, get a sense of what’s out there and then give us a call to discuss their options. Marketour helps our clients leverage their valuable time and allows us to focus on the most important aspect of a commercial real estate transaction- the art of the deal.”
President, Sab Russo says, “Marketour is dynamic and we plan to continue to make changes and additions to create a better tool for companies searching for office space.”
Currently, the public version is available on the website. A version with significantly more information is available to Mercer Oak clients provided with a dedicated login.
Whether you’re looking to move in the next 6 months or just want to get a better idea of whats out there for future plans- Marketour is the easiest way to find your new office.
Check it out: www.marketour.info