Raritan Plaza III Trades for $25M

"This acquisition reflects our focus on value-added opportunities and ability to source opportunistic transactions in the marketplace," says Anthony DiTommaso, Jr., Ivy's chief executive officer. According to DiTommaso, his company plans to launch "a significant property enhancement program for this asset."

Raritan Plaza III is located on 13.5 acres within the sprawling Raritan Center. One of the largest business parks on the East Coast, Raritan Center encompasses 13 million sf and more than 3,000 tenants in 100 buildings under multiple ownership.

Ivy Realty's latest acquisition, meanwhile, is currently 80% leased. Its major tenants include Washington Mutual, Penn Mutual and a regional office of Grubb & Ellis. The sale transaction itself was arranged by Andrew Merin, Gary Gabriel and David Bernhaut of Cushman & Wakefield of NJ, East Rutherford.

A couple of the companies involved in the latest transaction have been active in the buy-and-sell market recently. Archon, which has its New Jersey office in Chatham, has been in a sell mode, shedding a 1.23 million-sf, eight-building portfolio of New Jersey properties earlier this year, selling it to Allegiance Realty Corp. for an estimated $86 million. Archon also sold the 148,000-sf Cadbury Schweppes Office and Technology Center in Hanover Twp. to Capital Lease Funding for $48 million.

"These asset sales reflect our ability to create value through the development cycle," says Fred Arena, regional director for Archon, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. "Each of these assets achieved our investment objectives, and the sale proceeds will be recycled into new acquisitions in New Jersey."

And Ivy Realty, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivy Equities, has been active in both buying and selling properties in the New York metro area. In the past several months the company has acquired Crossroads Executive Center and Crossroads Corporate Center, a total of 415,000 sf in 13 building in Long Island, NY; and 225 Summit Ave., a 130,000-sf office building in Montvale, NJ. The latter was acquired in a partnership with Paragon Realty Group and Active International.

But Ivy has also sold several properties, namely the 160,000-sf 220 Davidson Ave. in Franklin Twp., NJ, for $16 million; the 138,000-sf Crosswest Office Center in White Plains, NY, for $24.7 million; and the 123,000-sf 300 Harmon Meadow Blvd. in Secaucus, NJ, for $25.5 million.