Mack-Cali Sells Sanofi's Bridgewater Office for $73M

BRIDGEWATER, NJ-Mack-Cali Realty Corp. announced Monday that it had sold 55 Corporate Drive, which is long-term leased to Sanofi, to a subsidiary of Cole Corporate Income Trust for $72.3 million.

For Mack-Cali, it was another deliberate move in an aggressive portfolio shift begun last year in the face of New Jersey's protracted office-market swoon. The 205,439-square-foot Class A building, completed in early 2011, was developed by the REIT as a build-to-suit for the French drug maker.

Mitchell E. Hersh, Mack-Cali's president and CEO said in a statement, “The sale of this property continues our strategy of monetizing non-core assets.”

Also, Monday, the REIT announced it would sell $275 million of 3.15% senior unsecured notes due in 2023. It said it would use proceeds for working capital and to pay off debts.

Having acquired Roseland Property Co., a multifamily builder/developer as a subsidiary last fall, Mack-Cali continues to make decisive moves into the residential sector. In January, it acquired two Boston-area rental properties that had long been managed by Roseland.  It paid $61.3 million for a 310-unit rental property agreed to purchase a 412-unit asset at Alterra at Overlook Ridge for $88.7 million.

Last week, in Bridgewater, Advance Realty announced it had acquired Sanofi's 1.2-million-square-foot research and development campus adjacent to the office building sold to Cole.

Sanofi closed its Bridgewater operations last year, after a companywide reorganization precipitated by poor sales in 2011. Advance Realty will move its headquarters to the R & D site and is rebranding the property as the New Jersey Center of Excellence. The company plans to reposition it for mixed-use development.  

Current tenants at the campus include Ashland Specialty Ingredients, which recently relocated from Wayne and Amneal Pharmaceuticals.