Somerset Opens Commercial Space in Lakewood, NJ

NEW JERSEY—Somerset Development completed and fully leased a new building in Lakewood where it has already built several properties, Bussel Realty closed a flurry of lease transactions in Middlesex recently, and the executive leadership of Real Estate Strategies joined Jones Lang LaSalle. Read more in this deal-tracker roundup of recent news.

Executive Moves

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ—Jones Lang LaSalle has named Andrew Zezas, SIOR, a managing director in its New Jersey office. Zezas was previously CEO of New Jersey-based Real Estate Strategies. Joining Zezas at JLL as vice presidents are RealStrat's leadership team, Paulo Santos and Christopher Borgese. Zezas, Santos and Borgese will be part of JLL's brokerage team, led by Dan Loughlin, international director and head of New Jersey brokerage. Zezas and his team will be responsible for new business development, with a focus on cultivating relationships with CFOs and other C-Suite executives. They will also provide real estate advisory and tenant representation services to space users throughout New Jersey, as well as other parts of the United States. Zezas has nearly three decades of experience in the New Jersey real estate market, providing planning, advisory and transactional services for clients in the office, distribution, manufacturing, technology and life sciences sectors. Founded in 2002, RealStrat's clients have included financial executives and senior management at public, private and non-profit corporations in a range of industries throughout the United States. Santos is a licensed real estate salesperson with 19 years of experience in information technology, which has enabled him to assist companies in achieving their business objectives. Borgese, also a licensed real estate salesperson, has vast experience marketing to C-level leaders, which enabled him to expand RealStrat's new business pipeline.

ROSELAND, NJ—Kim Alexander, Esq. has joined A.Y Strauss, a law firm specializing in commercial real estate transactions. Alexander most recently served as associate counsel for more than 10 years at Manhattan-based RD Management, one of the nation's largest privately-held real estate management and development companies. Previously, Alexander was an associate in the real estate group at the law firm of Kaye Scholer in New York, where she represented large financial institutions in connection with the financing of shopping centers, office buildings and hotels. She holds a JD magna cum laude Brooklyn Law School, and earned a BA cum laude in political science from Columbia College, Columbia University. Alexander is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.

ISELIN, NJ—Isabel Freire has been named assistant director of leasing and marketing at Bergman Real Estate Group. In her new role, Freire will represent Bergman Real Estate on in-house leasing transactions and tenant relations, as well as developing marketing programs for the firm's Northern and Central New Jersey office building portfolio. A New Jersey licensed salesperson, Freire holds a BBA in international marketing from Pace University. With more than 15 years of commercial real estate experience, she joins Bergman Real Estate Group from Jones Lang LaSalle, where she served as leasing agent for the Northern New Jersey market, primarily focusing on Bergen and Hudson Counties. Previously she also served as the market research director for NAI James E. Hanson.

LYNDHURST, NJ—Ripco Real Estate has added two sales people and a marketing specialist, all in its Lyndhurst, NJ, office. Jake Frantzman joins Ripco with more than ten years of experience in retail landlord representation.  Most recently, he was with Levin Management, where he was responsible for more than 1.6 million square feet of open air retail shopping centers throughout the company portfolio.  Before that he worked for Levco, where he was involved with shopping center rent collection, maintenance, leasing and marketing. Matt Grundy, a recent graduate of Montclair State University, joins Ripco with previous real estate experience at Keller Williams Realty.  He will be working on a mix of retail landlord and tenant assignments. Juliann Schwartz, with an expertise in social media, will be the firm's third dedicated marketing professional in the Lyndhurst, NJ office. 

PARSIPPANY, NJ—Colliers International named Ryan Haggerty an associate on its brokerage team in Parsippany, NJ. Haggerty will focus on landlord and tenant representation. Before joining Colliers, Haggerty was an intern with New Jersey Transit where he provided sales variance analyses to improve productivity and efficiency. His understanding of transit and infrastructure will assist in advising clients. He holds a bachelor's in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurial studies from Elizabethtown College.

Development

LAKEWOOD, NJ—Somerset Development has completed and fully leased a new 11,500-square-foot commercial building at 920 County Line Road in Lakewood, NJ. The building is Somerset's most recent addition to Lakewood, where it has constructed 40,000 square feet of highly accessible, class-A commercial space in the past 10 years. Nearby, at 917 E. County Road, Somerset has submitted plans to develop a space for a boutique grocery store. "920 County Line Road's vacancy-free opening speaks volumes about how much it resonates with the Lakewood community," Ralph Zucker, president of Somerset Development, tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. "It's always been of the utmost importance that we recognize people's specific development needs and cater to them. That's what brings meaning and success to Somerset's work." Currently, 920 County Line Road is home to companies including MGM Group, The Goldstone Group, and Pediatric Speech Associates.

Leasing

MIDDLESEX, NJ—Bussel Realty Corp. recently closed several commercial real estate lease transactions totaling over 19,880 square feet in Middlesex, NJ. "Bussel Realty focuses on a client's commercial real estate requirements, regardless of size, and we are very active not only in Middlesex but in the surrounding areas of Central New Jersey," noted BRC president Steve Bussel, SIOR.  "We have built many relationships with small users that over time grew and expanded." The transactions include the following locations: a 7,180-square-foot expansion by Soma Labs Inc Exp III, a vitamin manufacturer, for 46 months at 253 Lackland Drive; a 5,000-square-foot lease renewal by Willgain Enterprises Ren IV, a machinery packaging distributor, for nine months at 262 Lackland Drive; a 5,000-square-foot lease by Print Finishing Systems, a machinery wholesaler, for five years at 260 Lackland Drive; and a 2,700-square-foot lease by High Tech Vending, a vending machine wholesaler and distributor, for two years at 460 Lincoln Boulevard.

UNION CITY, NJ—Sherwin Williams has leased a 4,400 square-foot store at 140 48th Street in a 25,000 square-foot neighborhood shopping center owned by JD Union and 4801 Union City. Neighboring tenants at this location include Bank of America, CVS, Chase Bank and Dunkin Donuts. Chuck Lanyard, president, and Neil Goldstein, principal, of The Goldstein Group, handled the transaction. The Goldstein Group has also recently placed Sherwin Williams in Ledgewood, Hackensack, Fair Lawn, Washingtown Township, and Fairview and is currently working on several more locations.