Heritage had acquired the landmark building in 2001 and subsequently launched a multimillion-dollar renovation and repositioning of the asset. Details of the transaction were not released, but Heritage paid $23.5 million for it four years ago, and today the building is estimated to be worth between $45 million and $50 million. The 18-story building has 16,250-sf floor plates.

The deal also marks the first major German investment in the office market of New Jersey's largest city. "The involvement of the Dr. Peters Group demonstrates the success of our effort at 550 Broad St., and also the continued renaissance of the Newark CBD," says Steven Greenberg, a principal with Heritage Management, a private family-owned firm based in Ridgewood. The company also maintains offices in 550 Broad."This transaction also sets the stage for additional institutional involvement in the city, and reflects the positive impact that the development community is making here," Greenberg says.Jonathan G. Geanakos and Andrew W. Osborne of Trammell Crow Co.'s New York office, and Leo Paytas of the firm's Florham Park office advised Heritage and structured the deal for the firm. The Bank of America financed the transaction."We are extremely excited to have completed this ground-breaking transaction, which marks the first-ever sale of a Newark asset to a German entity and a paradigm shift by German capital toward value-added opportunities," Geanakos says. "This was a transaction with complex requirements.""The Dr. Peters Group is a long-term, passive investor that was seeking to capitalize on the tax advantages of ownership in the US," says Ramses Erdtmann of Oxygan Investments, US advisor to the buyer. "And Heritage has created value at 550 Broad St."The Dr. Peters Group is a traditional German syndicator that has invested more than $4.7 billion since it was founded in Dortmund, Germany in 1960, according to Erdtmann.