Tiffany Completes 266,000-SF Fulfillment Center

The complex, which includes some 45,000 sf of class A office space in its floorplan, will be the platform for the company's expanding Internet-based sales, as well as other direct customer order fulfillment operations. "The building design and technology will provide us with the ability to expand our Internet-based sales by cutting processing time for shipment of retail orders to within 24 hours," according to Kent Rauscher, Tiffany's vice president of distribution.

Development services for the new complex were provided by SJP Properties of Parsippany, NJ, marking the second project the company has done for Tiffany in the last few years. Last year, SJP expanded its existing 15 Sylvan Way complex in Parsippany by some 90,000 sf and added a 500-car parking garage to Tiffany's existing offices there.

The new fulfillment center here, meanwhile, includes a state-of-the-art automation system, according to Peter Eppie of SJP Properties. His company was responsible for managing the project's approval process, site selection, planning, lease negotiations and site development. Other Tiffany-specific features to the complex, besides the automated storage and retrieval systems, include skilled craft shops for fulfilling custom orders, jewelry storage towers and an estimated 3.2 miles of conveyors and vertical lifts.

Designed by the Hillier Group's New York City office, the fulfillment sits on a site of slightly more than 38 acres. Its gross floor area of about 275,000 sf is designed to accommodate a staff of more than 500 people at any one time.

For its part, SJP currently owns and manages a class A portfolio of more than 12 million sf with an additional six million sf of development potential. The company recently got the nod from the city of Hoboken, NJ to develop a 450,000-sf office building adjacent to its existing Waterfront Corporate Center there.