Deals & Dealmakers: Suburban office sales back in vogue

By REW Staff
Real Estate Weekly – January 9, 2014
LYNDHURST, NJ

Cushman & Wakefield has completed the sale of Cityview Corporate Center at 160 Chubb Avenue in Lyndhurst, N.J.
The firm’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group (CMG) team of Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian Whitmer and Nick Karali represented the seller, working in conjunction with Cushman & Wakefield’s Curtis Foster.
Rugby Realty Co. Inc. of New Rochelle, N.Y., purchased the property.

The three-story office building totals 135,418 s/f on 8.36 acres with direct access to Routes 17 and 3. Originally constructed in 1979, the property was taken down to the steel and renovated in 2006, with common areas upgraded again in 2012.

“Cityview clearly outperformed the marketplace with respect to leasing achievements,” Gabriel noted. “It is now 80 percent leased and is easily considered to be one of the best buildings in the neighborhood.”

“The sale represented a win-win for both buyer and seller,” Gabriel added. “Rugby benefitted from an attractive basis while the seller was able to monetize its recent leasing achievements at the property.”

Gabriel described the transaction as a counter-cyclical office investment that is also a positive sign for the suburban office markets of New Jersey. “Investors had become less enthusiastic about investment in suburban office markets through the past recession, and it is a good sign to see them venturing back to seize opportunities like this,” he said.

Maurice Ades, managing partner at Rugby, said, “It is the 15th property we have acquired in the last 24 months, and we believe the first of many for the New Jersey office market.”

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