WOODBRIDGE, NJ-The Gilbert Cos. has signed a lease for 270,500 sf of warehouse/distribution space at 1000 Industrial Way within the Raritan Center business park here. The company will become a major tenant at a new 698,000-sf building being developed on spec by Frank Greek & Son of East Brunswick.

The signing was arranged for Gilbert by Peter Hamburger, Curtis Foster, Walter Schoenberg and Jeffrey Prezant of Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey. The owner was represented by Paul Torosian of the Trammell Crow Co., Florham Park. The terms of the signing were not disclosed. Frank Greek, president of the firm bearing his name, which broke ground on the facility in early 2004, says the lease "represents a success story of the cleanup and reuse of a former blighted property."

The space will include about 20,000 sf of office space and some 200 parking spaces. It also incorporates 87 loading doors, "an unprecedented ratio per sf," Hamburger says. "The Gilbert Cos. had some very specific needs in terms of geography and flow-through requirements. It involved finding a space that could accommodate the number of loading doors typically associated with larger, 500,000-sf distribution centers in half that size."

The building was originally designed as a rectangle with loading doors on its two longer sides, according to Greek. To get the right number of doors for the tenant, loading doors were added on one end of the building as well.

Gilbert is part of P&O Nedlloyd Logistics, itself part of shipping concern P&O Nedlloyd Ltd., which acquired Gilbert in early 2002. Gilbert is a domestic logistics company involved primarily in the retail sector, specifically apparel, footwear and electronics. Its services include value-added warehousing, vendor consolidation, deconsolidation and store delivery.

"We feel the facility's unusual design will enhance our store-delivery program, as well as our consolidation services," says Gregg Prisco, Gilbert's president. "In addition, our entry into the third-party, value-added warehousing on the East Coast is enhanced by this building layout."