KBS Completes Largest-Ever New Jersey Office Deal

KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II has scooped up the remaining four office buildings at Park Avenue at Morris County–a Class A, six-building complex located at the Columbia Turnpike exit of Route 24 in New Jersey’s Essex/Eastern Morris County submarket. This transaction, which closed last week, comes more than a month after KBS REIT II’s September completion of the first phase of the deal–a pickup of first two buildings, 100 (pictured) and 200 Campus Drive. With its October acquisition of the last four buildings, the REIT has taken full ownership of the complex. In both chapters of the deal, KBS represented itself. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Dunne, Kevin Welsh and David Gavin of CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s ‘ New York institutional group and Samuel Buckley of the CBRE’s Saddle Brook office represented the seller, who has not been disclosed. The combined price tag of $362.4 million, or $323 per square foot, slots the deal as one of the largest in the Northeast thus far this year, and, according to CB Richard Ellis, the largest office sale ever in New Jersey. The buildings KBS REIT II nabbed in this latest transaction comprise 564,600 square feet, including: the 101,500-square-foot 300 Campus Drive; the 183,000-square-foot 400 Campus Drive; the 180,700-square-foot 500 Campus Drive; and the 99,400-square-foot 600 Campus Drive. The properties are 99 percent leased and include granite facades and lobbies, as well as skylight-illuminated atria. “KBS was attracted to Park Avenue at Morris County since it is a true trophy-quality office park that has a long history of high occupancy. Our motivation is to buy high-quality assets with dependable cash flow, and this asset fits that description perfectly,” Shannon Hill, KBS senior vice president & director of acquisitions, told CPN. “As a whole, the northern New Jersey market has been relatively flat, however we expect this asset, along with a handful of other trophy assets in the region, to outperform the market.” The property is next to The Green at Florham Park, a new, master-planned project incorporating a Marriott Renaissance ClubSport hotel and the future location of the New York Jets headquarters and training facility. The Park Avenue Club is at the entrance to the property. KBS has engaged in other recent activity in the Northeast. At the end of September, CPN reported that Home Depot leased 450,000 square feet of industrial space in Connecticut owned by a KBS REIT I/Hackman Capital Partners/Calare Properties joint venture.