PARSIPPANY, NJ-Officials of Capital Lease Funding Inc. have announced that the REIT has signed a definitive agreement to buy the 368,000-sf office and warehouse facility occupied by Tiffany & Co. at 15 Sylvan Way here. Tiffany is the seller and will stay in the building under a sale-leaseback agreement.

According to CapLease's announcement, Tiffany's lease runs for a 20-year term on a triple-net basis. Further terms of the lease have not been disclosed. The acquisition is scheduled to close on Wednesday, Sept. 28, "although closing is subject to customary closing conditions and, therefore, the timing and certainty of the acquisition cannot be assured," according to a statement issued by the company.

CapLease is paying Tiffany $75 million for the asset, which factors out to nearly $204 per sf. A majority of the building, which houses the venerable 168-year-old, New York City-based jewelry company's worldwide distribution operations, is W/D space.

"This acquisition represents a significant milestone for us as it puts our net-lease portfolio at more than $1 billion," says Paul McDowell, CapLease's chief executive officer. His firm is a New York City-based REIT focused on financing and owning commercial properties net leased primarily to single tenants with investment-grade or near investment-grade credit ratings. A Tiffany spokesperson did not return a call for comment.

The facility, which houses office, data and distribution operations, was bulked up to its present size in 2002 with a 90,000-sf expansion to the original facility. Done as a build-to-suit by locally based SJP Properties, the three-story addition added office space, conference rooms a data center and a four-story parking garage for more than 500 cars. About 500 employees were moved into the addition from leased space at the nearby 8 Campus Dr.

SJP also did another major project for Tiffany in recent years. Two years ago the developer constructed a 266,000-sf customer fulfillment center in nearby Hanover Township to support the jeweler's expanding Internet-based sales and other direct customer order fulfillment operations.