"The transaction is an example of capital seeking safety with an A-rated tenant in the current interest rate environment," according to senior director Gary Gabriel of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Financial Services Group (FSG), which arranged the sale. "Despite the scope of this offering, which logically required a substantial amount of up-front equity, we received more than a dozen bids from parties interested in buying it."

"At less than $200 per sf, with an A-rated credit tenant and favorable interest rates, this acquisition provides an outstanding cash flow return," adds John Saraceno, chief investment officer for the Montvale, NJ-based Ivy Equities. "It also offers the possibility of significant value enhancement in the future."

C&W's Metropolitan Area FSG was also involved in TA Associates' original acquisition of Metro Park Office Center some five years ago. Indeed, the group has a history with both TA, for whom it has bought and sold some 3.3 million sf of space in the past few years, and Ivy Equities, where the recent work tab amounts to almost 2.7 million sf of acquisitions and dispositions.

"TA Associates and Ivy Equities are two of the most active players in the New Jersey market," according to Gabriel. "This transaction illustrates the strategic moves being made by these companies - one capitalizing on current market conditions to get an impressive return on its initial investment, and the other growing its portfolio of trophy properties."

Ivy Equities currently owns and manages a portfolio of more than three million sf of commercial real estate in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York's Westchester County.