Pantheon Buys 325,000-SF Industrial

WOODBRIDGE, NJ-Pantheon Properties has acquired 1500 Rahway Ave., a 325,000-sf industrial building in the Avenel section of this Middlesex County township. The seller was Woodbridge Enterprises LP, a local group. The sale price was not disclosed.

For the New York City-based Pantheon, the pick-up is a value-add play. While much of the existing building is leased to shipping giant Maersk's Hudd Distribution Services division, the facility is expandable to 500,000 sf either as an extension of the current facility or a new separate building.

"In the midst of uncertainty in the credit markets, we had the resources to close on a property of outstanding value," says Pantheon founder and CEO Ken Cohen. "This building represents a terrific opportunity to realize the full potential of the property."

The deal also represents the second acquisition for Pantheon under the joint venture the company completed in 2007 with Principal Real Estate Investors to target $400 million in value-added industrial/flex properties in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. In October, Pantheon bought a four-building industrial and office campus in North Brunswick from Vertis Communications.

Altogether, the property totals just less than 27 acres. The existing building, which has 32-foot clear ceilings and a 20,000-sf office component, sits on approximately 15 acres. The remaining acreage is available for vehicle parking or new building development, potentially including retail. The site is located just off Exit 12 of the New Jersey Turnpike.

The sale was orchestrated by Jeffrey Dunne, Jeffrey Oram and Kevin Welsh of CB Richard Ellis' New York Institutional Group, in collaboration with Mindy Lissner of CBRE's East Brunswick office. The trio represented the seller, procured the buyer, and worked with Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America on the assumption of an existing loan on the asset.