Acquiring Summit Office Building, Normandy Plans $4M Improvements

SUMMIT, NJ—Normandy Real Estate Partners has acquired 25 Deforest Avenue, a three-story, 125,000 square foot office building in Summit, NJ. The transaction, a joint venture with Mark Yeager of MRY Associates, continues Normandy's strategy of acquiring and developing well-located and high-quality assets in downtown Summit.

“We're excited about 25 Deforest Avenue as its large, open floor plates – approximately 42,000 square feet – enable it to cater to tenants of all sizes that want a presence in this dynamic market,” says Paul Teti, principal of Normandy Real Estate Partners. “And the capital improvement program that we plan on implementing will only increase the building's attractiveness to prospective tenants, so we're looking forward to getting started on that immediately.”

Normandy intends to execute approximately $4 million in base building improvements that will reposition the property from a class B+ to a class A asset, address identified deferred maintenance, and make the remaining office vacancy more competitive in the market.

The improvements will include the replacement of all windows, front plaza enhancements, lobby, common area and bathroom renovations as well as a totally new landscaping program.

“Downtown Summit is a very attractive market with unique and outstanding demand factors given its location, accessibility, downtown amenities and overall high quality work environment.  We are confident our repositioning plan will produce great results and elevate 25 Deforest Avenue into one of the market's premier office buildings,” says Mark Yeager, founder and principal of MRY Associates.

The location of 25 Deforest Avenue benefits from direct train access to New York City via NJ Transit (40 minutes) and is located at the junction of Interstate 78 and Route 24, primary thoroughfares providing access to New York City. The city of Summit maintains some of the strongest demographics in the state and is one of the most affluent communities in the New York Metropolitan Area. Summit's downtown district is an exclusive blend of highly desirable boutiques, restaurants and offices providing unparalleled convenience for its residents and significant draw from the Northern and Central New Jersey regions. 

Normandy and Mark Yeager have worked on a number of successful projects together, including:

• Summit Executive Center (One Deforest Avenue), a 65,000 square foot, 100% occupied class A office building
• 466 Springfield, 32,000 square foot mixed use office and retail project currently under construction and scheduled for completion in August, and
• Summit Center (343 Springfield, 350 Springfield, 355 Springfield, 344 Springfield, and 96 Summit), a dynamic mixed use downtown assemblage consisting of retail, office and apartment offerings.

The majority of office inventory within the Summit market has limited availability and is older Class B and C buildings, and given the fully developed nature of the downtown market, there is limited opportunity for inventory growth. The market dynamics of downtown Summit are demonstrated by an extremely low vacancy rate and premium rental rates.