C&W Will Market AT&T's Headquarters

BASKING RIDGE, NJ-The announcement last month that AT&T would part with its massive headquarters campus in this Somerset County community sent shock waves through the Garden State’s economy. Now, AT&T has announced that it has turned the exclusive marketing assignment over to Cushman & Wakefield.

“This is arguably the top corporate setting for a Fortune 100 CEO and senior management team,” says Robert J. Donnelly, the C&W executive vice president repping the property. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a company looking for a trophy campus, because replacement costs for something like this right now would probably be in the half-billion-dollar range. Given the location and quality of this property, we’ve already received serious interest from a number of corporate entities.”

The campus, which sprawls over 140 manicured and wooded acres, was recently assessed for $261 million, according to Donnelly. And while it may be the perfect setting for a CEO and top management, the place can hold a lot more than that.

By the numbers, AT&T’s campus has room for over 4,000 employees in its seven interconnected buildings totaling 2.7 million sf, including its indoor garages and common areas. None of the buildings in the environmentally sensitive property rise more than 48 feet above grade.

Located just off I-287, the Kling Partnership-designed asset was completed in 1976. The staggered two-to-four story building exteriors are precast concrete panels with bronze-tinted windows and California-style red clay roof shingle-tiles. The lobby/reception area has a dramatic indoor waterfall.

Besides all that, the property also has more than 50 conference rooms, a full-service cafeteria, fitness center, a 400-person multi-purpose room, helipad, recreational fields and a seven-acre pond. The property is bordered by AT&T’s 171-bed corporate conference facility, known as The AT&T Learning Center. No decision has been made in terms of the disposition of the latter, but it could be part of the package, according to Donnelly.

“Frankly, the complex is bigger than we need today, compared to some of the other buildings we occupy,” explains Stephen Brazzell, AT&T’s vice president of real estate. “After analyzing the situation, we determined that the best financial sense would be made by selling the property and relocating our employees to those other buildings.

“By consolidating into our other properties, we can reduce expenses and achieve a functional separation of our varied operations,” he continues, noting that some 3,200 employees are currently located at the site. Many of them, including top management, will be moved to AT&T’s existing facility in nearby Bedminster, located just a few miles to the south.