Hana Pays $305M for NJ Office Campus

Hana Asset Management, a subsidiary of Hana Financial Group, one of the largest bank holding companies in South Korea, has purchased a Class A office project in Plainsboro, New Jersey for $305 million, making it the largest single-asset sale in New Jersey to date in 2016. The 762,000 square foot complex was sold by a partnership between Ivy Equities, LCOR Inc. and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. in a deal brokered by Cushman & Wakefield; C&W also secured financing while Goulston & Storrs advised Hana in the transaction. The acquisition is the latest in Hana's program to acquire core office properties in the metropolitan areas of major U.S. cities, such as New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston and Seattle.

"The superior investment-grade tenant and durable in-place cash flow with contractual rent steps at 800 Scudders Mill enabled us to source this noteworthy partnership as the purchasing entity," said Andrew Merin of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group. "The result – a major offshore investment in New Jersey - is a big win for the state. The transaction came with a number of challenges, including the complexity of multiple partners on both sides of the sale."

"This was indeed a complex transaction involving a foreign entity trying to understand structural considerations for financing in the U.S.," John Alascio, a managing director with C&W, said in a prepared statement. "Future funding components are always complex in terms of logistics and obtaining lender approval. It can often be easier with single-tenant financing, which this is, but in this instance, given the nature of future funding and the earn-out of space to the tenant, it was particularly challenging. Overall, we delivered the best deal in the marketplace, working around the structural concerns of both the buyer and seller."

The Class A property features nine interconnected buildings on 59 acres in the heart of the Princeton sub market, and was originally developed in 1985 for Merrill Lynch. Novo Nordisk, headquartered at the office park, currently occupies 498,000 square feet on a net lease basis with expansion rights. The pharmaceutical company has occupied the campus since 2013, when the property underwent a full redevelopment.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Gramercy Sells NJ Office Buildings to Spear Street for $299M

Gramercy Property Trust announced that it had closed on the sale of two office buildings in Jersey City, New Jersey for $299 million, or $349 per square foot, to San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital. Commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale of 70 Hudson Street and 90 Hudson Street, marking the largest New Jersey office deal this year. Before closing, Gramercy prepaid the mortgage debt on 70 Hudson, and Spear Street assumed the outstanding loan of $101 million on 90 Hudson.

"These are unique, irreplaceable assets, and this transaction is clearly the most significant deal to date in 2016,"said Andrew Merin, Vice Chairman within Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey, Inc., who notes that his team had orchestrated a previous sale of the subject properties in 2011. "This is the only office availability greater than 200,000 square feet and the largest contiguous availability along the Hudson Waterfront. The new ownership will be able to capitalize on the market's strong leasing momentum and cyclically improving rents compared to Manhattan."

70 Hudson Street is a 409,272 square foot, 12-story office building originally constructed in 2000 and is currently vacant after Barclay's recent departure; Cushman & Wakefield are handling the leasing assignment of the property. 90 Hudson Street is also 12 stories tall and covers 418,046 square feet of space; occupancy information was not disclosed. The sale of both properties is part of Gramercy Property Trust's previously announced plan to dispose of select single and multi-tenant office assets.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

China Construction Acquires Advance at Southgate for $71M

China Construction America Inc. announced this month that it has purchased 445 South Street in Morris Township, New Jersey for roughly $71 million. The property was previously purchased in 2005 by Advance Real Estate for $30.2 million, then renovated for another $25 million in 2007, according to a Realty Today report. Andrew Merin, Gary Gabriel, David Bernhaut and Brian Whitmer with Cushman & Wakefield's capital markets group represented the seller. Geoffrey Schubert and Dorothy Chuang with CBRE represented the buyer.

"It indicates that well-located, well-tenanted, class A office buildings still attract a lot of attention in an office market that has continued to struggle," said Andrew Merin of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group.

Constructed in 1982, the 320,000 square-foot property comprises of three four-floor wings, connected by a two story atrium. The building is 88% leased so far, and among the four tenants signed on will be The Travelers Indemnity Co. and Marsh USA, said Merin. China Construction might occupy part of the building, which is leased mainly to insurance-company tenants, said Phillip Gesue, who joined China Construction last year to lead its U.S. real estate operations.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

10 Exchange Place Sold for $285M

Manulife Real Estate, the global real estate arm of Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation, acquired 10 Exchange Place in Jersey City, NJ for $285 million this month. Manulife picked up the property from a client of Invesco.

"This is kind of unusual," Andrew J. Merin, of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, which orchestrated the sale, told GlobeSt.com. Merin, David W. Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian J. Whitmer and Kyle B. Schmidt represented the seller, a client of Invesco, in the transaction. "Over $1 billion in bricks and sticks will have traded. [...] There is not a lot of quality out there. In July, the market started to slow down. [But] Manulife did all their homework."

"Manulife is always looking for opportunities to grow our real estate investment portfolio and we're extremely pleased to secure these exceptional assets in what are three very important and diverse real estate investment markets," said Kevin Adolphe, Chief Operating Officer of Manulife's Investment Division and President and CEO of Manulife Real Estate. "We are optimistic about the possibilities in these and other key markets and we continue to look for core office, industrial and multi-family residential property investments throughout Canada, the United States and Asia."

Completed in 1988, the 748,005-square-foot building was the recent recipient of BOMA's 2011 TOBY (The Outstanding Building of the Year) award for buildings over 500,000 square feet. LEED-Gold and Energy Star certified, the iconic tower offers unobstructed views of lower Manhattan from every floor. The property was 100% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including ACE Insurance, Daikin McQuay, Kuehne + Nagel, Rabobank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.