As reported by GlobeSt.com, the newly acquired portfolio consists of the five-building, 850,000-sf Atrium Corporate Campus in Franklin Township and the adjacent 82,000-sf Garden State Exhibit Center, and the two-building, 96,000-sf Airport Park in Hanover Township. The assignment, which totals about 950,000 sf, includes all of that except for the 180,000-sf 700 Atrium Dr. in Franklin, which is fully leased on a long-term basis by Merck, and the exhibit center.

Actually, C&W isn't a stranger to the assets, especially Atrium Corporate Center: The firm had the exclusive for the last year of Archon's ownership. According to Sarno, "during that time the property outperformed the local market. At the beginning of 2004 it had 55% of its space vacant, and at the end of the year it was 30% vacant."

By comparison, the Somerset/Upper I-287 submarket both started and ended the year with a 40% vacancy rate, according to industry figures. Besides Merck, the 67-acre Atrium Corporate Campus' major tenants include Sun Microsystems, Computer Sciences Corp. and CitiStreet.

"Despite the soft local market conditions, we continue to see consistent interest from prospective space users," Sarno says. "That indicates that market is ready to grow this year."

The Airport Park complex, meanwhile, has a tenant roster that includes Eclipse Marketing Services, Plymouth Financial Alliant Technologies and Global Consultants. Allegiance has announced that it will continue a major capital improvement program Archon launched last year.

"The properties continue to experience solid leasing momentum," says Greg Smith, a partner in the Charlotte, NC-based Allegiance Realty.

"The appointment reflects our commitment to working closely with the commercial real estate brokerage community in New Jersey," says Scott Sambade, vice president of acquisitions and finance for Allegiance. The acquisition of the portfolio marked his company's entry into what is one of the toughest barriers to entry markets in the country.

Allegiance acquired the assets earlier this month for an undisclosed price, with the Rockpoint Group as its institutional equity partner. As reported by GlobeSt.com, the deal closed with an acquisition and redevelopment loan from iStar Financial that was arranged by Ackman-Ziff.