PARSIPPANY/WHIPPANY, N.J., May 29, 2013 – With two winners and a third finalist in this year’s NAIOP New Jersey Deal of the Year awards competition, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. was recognized for its involvement in the state’s most creative and impactful 2012 office real estate transactions.
The honors continue the firm’s long-standing track record of NAIOP accolades; Cushman & Wakefield has won 11 New Jersey Deal of the Year awards over the past decade.
WINNER: CREATIVE DEAL OF THE YEAR
Robert Rudin, vice chairman and director of Cushman & Wakefield’s New Jersey Consulting Group; Andrew Schiffer, senior director, Brokerage Services; Jan Randall, financial analysis manager; and Charlie Hatfield, director, Brokerage Services, were honored with the 2012 Creative Deal of the Year award for multiple transactions orchestrated for EBI (Biomet Spine and Bone Healing Technologies) in Parsippany. Totaling 388,000 square feet and investment capital of more than $102 million, the activity included two dispositions – 6 Upper Pond Road and 100 Interpace Parkway – and a headquarters lease at Prism Capital Partners, LLC’s 399 Jefferson Road in Parsippany.
“The net result from the series of transactions we engineered is the transformation of three functionally obsolete facilities into state-of-the-art headquarters operations,” Rudin noted. “Edifice Information Management purchased and renovated 6 Upper Pond Road. Ferring Pharmaceuticals, the new owner of 100 Interpace Parkway, is conducting a complete retrofit and repurpose of that building. And 399 Jefferson Road is being expanded and renovated to accommodate a 103,000-square-foot premier headquarters, research/development and prototype manufacturing facility for Biomet. These deals punctuate a business comeback for Parsippany, especially the Jefferson Road corridor.”
WINNER: OFFICE/MIXED-USE DEAL OF THE YEAR
Cushman & Wakefield corporate account specialists Bob Donnelly, vice chairman, Robert Donnelly, Jr., executive vice president, and Marc Rosenberg, vice chairman; and David Bernhaut, vice chairman, Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, received the NAIOP Office/Mixed-Use Deal of the Year award in the mixed-use/office category. The team was recognized for orchestrating Bayer Healthcare’s acquisition of 94 acres in Whippany from Vision Equities/Rubenstein Partners on the developers’ behalf. David Warren of Resource Realty served as broker for Bayer.
The Vision/Rubenstein team is now building a 675,000-square-foot, build-to-suit East Coast Headquarters facility for the pharmaceutical giant on the site. “With incredible foresight, Vision Equities and Rubenstein Partners purchased the 200-acre, former Alcatel-Lucent campus, with the idea to transform 1.4 million square feet of obsolete corporate space into a modern, mixed-use community,” Donnelly, Jr. noted. “Ultimately, Bayer’s commitment marked the launch of a redevelopment benchmark for the State of New Jersey, illustrating the potential to recreate underutilized, antiquated facilities as vibrant, sustainable environments. Our team is honored to be part of such a meaningful project.”
FINALIST: CREATIVE DEAL OF THE YEAR
Cushman & Wakefield and Merrill Lynch were recognized as Creative Deal of the Year finalists. On behalf of Bank of America, they orchestrated the sale/leaseback of a 1.8 million-square-foot, 540-acre corporate campus in Hopewell. The $365 million transaction incorporated an unusual condominium ownership structure, involving four investors in a joint venture partnership. It represented New Jersey’s largest-ever, single-asset suburban office transaction. The Cushman & Wakefield professionals involved included Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group members Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut and Grace Braverman; Investment Banking Group members Michael Rotchford, Robert Elms and Ben Cooper; and Office Brokerage specialists Paul Giannone, Kevin Carton and Todd Elfand.
“Time and again our brokerage professionals bring investors, property owners and tenants together in blockbuster transactions that positively impact the state and local economies, and shape the commercial real estate community,” noted Gualberto “Gil” Medina, Cushman & Wakefield’s New Jersey executive managing director. “We take great pride in our team’s creativity, deep market knowledge and relationships, and impeccable client service. To be recognized by NAIOP is an incredible honor because this organization unites our industry, and plays such a vital role in our ability to uphold and elevate New Jersey as a great place to work, live and play.”
