Church & Dwight Expands by 116,000 SF

NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ-Church & Dwight Co. has completed a 116,000-sf industrial lease expansion at the former Johnson & Johnson facility at 2300 Route 1 here, bringing its total occupancy at the 1.2-million-sf facility to more than 247,000 sf. The company, which sells consumer products under the Arm & Hammer and other brands, uses the site for warehousing.

The tenant was represented by Scott Belfer, first VP of CB Richard Ellis, while property owner North Brunswick TOD Associates was represented by brokers from Lee & Klatskin Associates. Terms were not released; available space at the property is currently listed with an asking price of from $2.99 to $4 per sf.

"Church & Dwight recently acquired Orange Glo International," Belfer says. "They needed this additional space to accommodate their growing operations."

As reported by GlobeSt.com, Church & Dwight initially signed on at 2300 Route 1 in late 2006, taking 213,000 sf. At the same time, Furniture X-Change, a reseller of corporate office furniture took nearly 68,000 sf of warehouse space. Also still on-site is Johnson & Johnson, which retained more than 200,000 sf after it sold the campus to North Brunswick TOD Associates earlier in 2006 for an undisclosed price.

While the length of the various leases hasn't been released, all are said to be relatively short term. As reported here, North Brunswick TOD Associates, an affiliate of the Short Hills-based Garden Homes and Garden Commercial Properties, bought the surplus J&J property with the stated intention of redeveloping the 212-acre site. Officials of the company indicated in 2006 that they would offer the 1.2 million sf of building space for lease on a short-term basis pending final plans and redevelopment.

A transit village development is said to be likely for the site, including a combination of office, retail, residential and hotel uses, as well as a civic component for a new commuter rail station. According to Jonathan Frieder, managing partner for the ownership group, the eventual build-out will likely be contained within the footprint of the existing buildings, which were constructed in the mid-1950s.