Work Starts on 125,000 SF of Spec Offices

According to Allen Silverman, who founded the family-owned real estate company in 1989, Newmark Knight Frank has been hired to find tenants for the new space. For NKF, directors Frank D. Recine and Michael A. Tesser are handling the exclusive assignment.

"The completion of the buildings will represent the first new development of speculative, corporate-quality space in Englewood Cliffs in more than 25 years," Recine says. "Englewood Cliffs currently has a 5% availability rate in existing class A office buildings and has consistently outperformed the entire George Washington Bridge submarket, which currently has a 23% availability rate for existing class A office space."

The new buildings will join two existing buildings via a new, multi-story central lobby, according to Silverman. The existing structure was completed in 1988, and as reported by GlobeSt.com,Andalex bought the property in early 2005 from Sylvan Associates, a New York-based investment group, for $28.3 million. At the time of the sale, the site was already cleared for the additional 125,000 sf of new construction.

The new buildings and the joint lobby will also launch a new marketing campaign for the entire property. Unilever, LG Electronics and Affinity Direct are already on-site as corporate tenants. "We are rebranding the entire project as a unified corporate campus environment," Tesser says. "The buildings will be joined by the new lobby and will incorporate a number of new amenities."

Designed by HLW International, the two new buildings will be two stories each with floorplates of 38,000 sf. One architectural feature will be building-wide continuous window lines. Also part of the plan are upgraded foodservice, a fitness center and covered parking.

"Andalex's decision to build on spec demonstrates its confidence in this submarket," Recine says. "It also reflects its belief that the market will welcome the introduction of a class A, multi-tenanted corporate campus."