The owner of the building, the Skokie, IL-based American Landmark Properties, was represented by Dudley D. Ryan, senior vice president of Trammell Crow Co. in Florham Park. The Port Authority was represented in-house by its real estate group, including Francis DiMola, Roger Muessig and Arthur Cella. The agency, which will now occupy six full floors of the building, became a major tenant at 2 Gateway after its World Trade Center offices were destroyed on 9/11.

"This commitment is one of the largest real estate transactions to be completed in Newark over the past four years," Ryan says. "This is a significant move for Newark's Downtown commercial real estate market," says city business administrator Richard Monteilh. "There is a lot of soft space in New Jersey, and leases of this caliber pull space off of the market and help increase business in the City of Newark."

"It is also a strategic investment by the Port Authority," says Barbara E. Kauffman, executive vice president of the Regional Business Partnership, a local business group. "Gateway Center is adjacent to Newark Penn Station, which is the nexus of many Port Authority operations."

2 Gateway Center is an 832,000-sf, 18-story class A building that's part of the larger Gateway Complex which includes four high-rise office towers, a retail mall and a Hilton hotel. American Landmark bought the asset in early 2002 for a reported $110 million, or about $132 a foot, from the New York City-based Witkoff Properties. That sale marked the third time the building had traded in four years, during which time its market value increased by approximately 190%.

Built in the early 1970s, 2 Gateway Center's major tenant roster includes Prudential, the asset's original owner. Other current tenants include Wachovia, the Board of Public Utilities and AmeriChoice.