51 Commerce Drive, South Brunswick, NJ 51 Commerce Drive, South Brunswick, NJ

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ—TIAA Global Asset Management has purchased the 220,000-square-foot, fully occupied 51 Commerce Drive in South Brunswick from Ivy Equities in a sale orchestrated by Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group.

Greenwich, CT-based Ivy owned the property since 2013, when it acquired the facility from Commerce SRG, according to Real Capital Analytics, a commercial real estate research firm.

“This property was occupancy-challenged when Ivy acquired it but today serves as a turnaround success story,” says Cushman & Wakefield’s Gary Gabriel, who headed the assignment with Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group team members Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Brian Whitmer, Kyle Schmidt and Andrew MacDonald.

“The company invested more than $1 million to remove mezzanine space, modernize the sprinkler system, upgrade the warehouse to LED lighting and build new office restrooms,” he added. “These capital improvements helped drive occupancy to 100%, with an average in-place lease term of 9.4 years.” Occupants include long-time tenant Lenox and newer arrivals EDA International, Salesmaster Associates and Halsted Corp.

Located on 14 acres and two turns from Exit 8A of the NJ Turnpike – 45 miles from New York City and 55 miles from Philadelphia – 51 Commerce Drive is located at the epicenter of the Boston/Washington D.C. corridor, less than 35 miles from the Port of Newark. One-third of the nation’s population is reachable within a one-day drive.

“Exit 8A has long been New Jersey’s strongest industrial market, and investor and tenant demand both continue unabated,” Schmidt says. “We are seeing far more dollars than deals in 2016. The sale of 51 Commerce provides an example of how quality, leased real estate – whether or not it is first-generation space – is attracting strong interest.”f