1735 Jersey Avenue, North Brunswick, NJ 1735 Jersey Avenue, North Brunswick, NJ

NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ—1735 Jersey Avenue LLC, a private investor, purchased a 360,000-square foot industrial property at 1735 Jersey Ave. from Murray Construction for $18.9 million in an off-market trade. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale of the property, which the buyer expects to upgrade significantly.

Built in 1980 and located on 16.5 acres, 1735 Jersey Ave. is a former Church & Dwight facility that has been occupied by a subtenant for several years.

“This rail-served property benefits from ample parking capacity, favorable local taxes and a deep regional labor base,” says Cushman & Wakefield’s Jason Goldman, an industrial specialist who brokered the sale with capital markets leader Andrew Merin and other members of the firm’s New Jersey industrial and investment sales teams. “At the same time, it is legacy industrial – and requires a significant upgrade to bring it to current standards.”

The property’s buyer is pursuing approval to raise the roof from its current 21 feet to 40-foot clear. Other improvements will include ESFR sprinklers and a new, energy-efficient lighting program.

Cushman & Wakefield maintains a long-standing relationship with Murray Construction. “With the subtenant’s lease set to expire, Murray approached us to explore the viability of selling or renovating the property,” Merin says. “The New Jersey industrial investment market is red-hot, with near record fundamentals and strong tenant demand. When Jack and his team expressed interest and the ability to take the property forward, it presented an ideal solution all around.”

The New Jersey industrial market saw an all-time high in overall net absorption (14.9 million square feet) during 2016, and new leasing activity hit a 16-year high (30.2 million square feet), according to Cushman & Wakefield research. Vacancy remained at record low levels, ending the year at 5.0 percent – and just 3.4 percent in Middlesex County. These positive fundamentals drove annual warehouse space asking rents to levels not seen in more than a decade.