488,000-SF Park 80 West Is Under Contract

The New York-based Eastdil Realty had been shopping the property for the seller, the Chicago-based Transwestern Investment Co., which acquired Park 80 West in early 2002 on behalf of Aslan Realty Partners, a fully discretionary equity fund. The seller in the earlier transaction was the Pennsylvania-based Brandywine Realty Trust, which moved the property as part of its strategy to exit the North Jersey market in favor of concentrating on the central and southern parts of the state. Brandywine bought the complex in 1997 and subsequently launched a major overhaul.

"Park 80 West is the premier asset in Bergen County," Lapidus tells GlobeSt.com, confirming that the property is under contract. "That's what attracted us to it. We like quality real estate. Ours is a best-in-class philosophy. We try to make all of our assets the best ones in their submarkets.

The property, which is part of a larger mixed-use complex that includes the smaller Park 80 East office building and a Marriott hotel under separate ownership, is located at the intersection of I-80 and the Garden State Parkway, less than 10 miles from the George Washington Bridge. Its tenant roster includes the main New Jersey office of CB Richard Ellis, as well as New York Life, the FAA (Park 80 West is not far from the general aviation Teterboro Airport) and Adecco, a personnel services firm.

"We have a long-term horizon in terms of our holding period," Lapidus says. "We think this is a great asset, and we're going to make it a little better.

Details of the pending sale, including the sale price, are not being disclosed pending its closing, which is anticipated by mid-January. In the earlier Brandywine-to-Transwestern sale, the building traded for a reported $75 million, or about $153 per sf. Sources with knowledge of the current market tell GlobeSt.com that they wouldn't be surprised if the latest transaction came in at closer to $200 a foot.