Mack-Cali has sold 7 Giralda Farms, a three-story, 236,800 s/f Class A office building on 20 acres of landscaped grounds in Madison, New Jersey.
Woodbridge, NJ-based Bergman Real Estate Group formed a joint venture with Eightfold Capital to make its fourth acquisition from the REIT as it disposes of its suburban office portfolio.
“We were pleased to sell the property to the Bergman organization which has consistently proven to be a reliable buyer and a pleasure to work with, and 7 Giralda was no exception,” said Ricardo Cardoso, executive vice president and CIO of Mack-Cali.
Bergman was represented by Mitchell Berkey and Joseph Zawila of the law firm Chiesa, Shahinian and Giantomasi PC (CSG). Acquisition financing made by Scott Goldberg of Shem Creek Capital was arranged by JLL’s New Jersey Capital Markets team of Michael Klein, Greg Nalbandian and Gerald Quinn.
Developed in 2000, 7 Giralda Farms is one of seven buildings within the 1.15 million SF Giralda Farms Corporate Campus, a gated 310-acre office campus set on the former Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge Estate.
Conceived and originally developed in the early 1990s by Prudential, Giralda Farms is recognized as one of the tristate area’s most prestigious office locations and is home to many prestigious companies, including Prudential, Leo Pharma, Inc., Merck, Pfizer, AbbVie and Atlantic Health Systems.
“We are very excited about this newest addition to our portfolio,” said Michael Bergman, President and CEO of Bergman Real Estate Group. “7 Giralda is a quality asset situated in one of the most beautiful office settings you will find in all of New Jersey. What we really like are the flexible floor plates that can accommodate large users as well as smaller to medium tenants, making this one of the first true multi-tenanted buildings within the Giralda Farms campus.”
7 Giralda has a two-story atrium entrance, 6,000 s/f café and terrace patio seating area overlooking the Giralda Farms grounds. Tenants and their employees also have use of a 3,000 s/f fitness center and underground parking.
Bergman has plans to further improve the building through a $3.6 million capital improvement program to upgrade all common areas, including the lobbies, restrooms, café and fitness center, as well as to bring new amenities to the property. These include an executive lounge with seating, collaboration and entertainment areas; a conference and training center, coworking offices, hospitality-style outdoor seating areas and outdoor recreational facilities such as Bergman’s Bike Share program and other fun and healthy activities for employees to take advantage of the outdoor spaces at 7 Giralda.
“As the office market continues to improve with companies and their employees returning to the workplace, we believe 7 Giralda Farms offers one of the best amenity-rich, scenic office environments in all of New Jersey,” said Bergman. “7 Giralda truly exemplifies the best of quality for corporations looking for the ideal work-play balance for the health and well-being of their employees.”
Mack-Cali acquired 7 Giralda Farms as part of a six-building portfolio a portfolio is purchased from RXR Realty for $368 million in 2017.
In April, 2021, it sold 51, 101, 103 and 150 JFK Parkway in Short Hills to The Birch Group for $255 million. A partnership of Pentaurus and Lord Fisher Capital acquired the vacant 141,000 s/f property, 3 Giralda Farms for $7.9 million last summer. 1 Giralda was sold to a partnership between Onyx Equities, Taconic Capital Advisors, Axonic Capital and Machine Investment Group as part of a 10-building portfolio sale that netted Mack-Cali $158 million.
During Mack-Cali’s first quarter earning report, CEO Mahbod Nia said he was pleased with Mack-Cali’s performance and start to 2021 despite the challenging environment.
“We continued to streamline our portfolio through the disposal of $547 million of suburban office sales, executed a number of leases in our Harborside campus, and grew our multifamily platform with the launch of two new communities. We remain focused on simplifying our business, leasing and strengthening our balance sheet while managing our overhead.”
