750,000-sf Corp/Tech Center Underway

Eden Wood Realty Co., based in Whippany, NJ, has turned the shovel for the first of three buildings that will encompass the River Park Business Campus in Hanover Twp., NJ. At build-out, the project will total some 750,000 sf of space, and Eden Wood is seeking corporate and technology-related tenants for the property.

“We have secured all of the required approvals for River Park, and we have begun work on the foundation for the first building,” according to Amy Neu, vice president of Eden Wood. “Because delivery time is so critical to corporate and high-tech users, especially under current market conditions, we are doing River Park as a build-to-suit. By at least putting up the foundations, we expect to be able to reduce building delivery time to only 10 months.”

Eden Wood Realty, based in Hanover Twp., is a subsidiary of Neu Holdings Corp. It has developed and owns more than three million sf of office and industrial space in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California.

Turner Construction of Somerset, NJ is Eden Wood’s construction manager for the project. “We can expect tenants to benefit from proceeding directly to the second phase, because the initial foundations will be fully completed,” agrees Bill Macedo, Turner’s project manager.

One site advantage being touted by Eden Wood: the property is connected to what is said to be the most concentrated 100% survivable fiber-optic ring in New Jersey. Currently, the underground cable pipeline system is being utilized primarily for immediate service restoration and back office transmissions and connects the Morris County region to Manhattan.

The 88-acre suburban-style campus also includes 23 acres of county-protected woodlands, a three-acre lake, and such features as a pedestrian bridge and walking and jogging paths.

Cushman & Wakefield of NJ is the exclusive leasing agent for the property. According to C&W’s Kevin Murphy, “this is a particularly tight market, and a lot of companies are retrofitting with short-term leases. We’re trying to provide a longer-term opportunity at less-than-market-rates.”