Chicago’s Bridge Development Partners Opens NJ Office

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Jeff Milanaik, Bridge Development Partners

Chicago-based Bridge Development Partners, L.L.C., is continuing to expand along the East Coast by opening an office in Parsippany, N.J., and adding two new principals – Jeffrey Milanaik and John Porcek – to run it.

It is the third office for Bridge Development, a privately owned firm founded in 2000 that develops and acquires industrial and office real estate, and the second on the East Coast. The firm opened an office in Miami in 2009.

“We have been pursuing the right team to oversee our Northern New Jersey expansion for some time and are excited to have Jeff and John on board. They have already identified numerous development opportunities in the market,” Bridge Principal Tony Pricco said in a news release. “We believe the Bridge model that has worked well in Chicago and South Florida markets will apply well in the New Jersey region. Partnering with Jeff and John in New Jersey is the key to our success there. Their combined industry and area expertise and experience are absolutely invaluable.”

Milanaik has more than 28 years experience in commercial real estate and was previously president and partner at Heller Industrial Parks Inc. in Edison, N.J., one of the nation’s largest privately held owner/developers of industrial real estate. During his tenure, he increased Heller’s industrial development, growing the portfolio by more than 10 million square feet to 16 million square feet in six states. In 2013, he left Heller and started CrownPoint Group, L.L.C., a privately held real estate and development firm.

John Porcek, Bridge Development

Porcek, who has 30 years experience in the construction industry in industrial, commercial and renewable energy projects, was most recently executive vice-president and senior partner at Heller. While at Heller, Porcek was responsible for directing the design, development and construction of more than $300 million worth of industrial development projects.

Both men have engineering degrees from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Milanaik’s bachelor’s degree is in mechanical engineering while Porcek’s is in civil engineering.

Bridge Development has acquired and developed more than 7.8 million square feet of office and industrial buildings and projects valued at more than $700 million in the Chicago and South Florida regions. The firm currently has more than $350 million in industrial developments under way.

Since opening the Miami office, the firm has developed five speculative Class A industrial properties totaling 1.2 million square feet to capitalize on the area’s rapid growth, including Bridge Point Port 95, Bridge Point Marina Mile, Bridge Point Davie, and Bridge Point Crossroads East.

In July, the firm acquired 17 acres in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., to develop Bridge Point Crossroads West, a 242,000-square-foot office/warehouse facility in Miami-Dade County. It was Bridge Development’s third speculative project in the past year in that region.