Altana Pharma Signs HQ Deal

FLORHAM PARK, NJ-Altana Pharma, the US subsidiary of Germany’s Altana Pharma AG and a member of the Altana AG Group, is set to make its new home at the Park Place campus here. The company has just signed a lease for 37,000 sf, with expansion potential, in a recently refurbished 55,000-sf building within the complex.

Park Place, owned by Advance Realty of Bedminster, NJ, is the former ExxonMobil International headquarters campus. Advance Realty recently completed a redevelopment of the 350,000-sf campus, which consists of four buildings, the largest of which is 165,000 sf. Two others total 65,000 sf each, and the fourth is Altana’s new home. The asset is located near the convergence of I-287 and Route 24 in Morris County.

Altana Pharma AG is the result of the consolidation of the 28 companies which made up Byk Gulden Chemishe Fabrik GmbH. The company, a newcomer to New Jersey, has a 125-year presence in Europe and had 2001 sales of $1.4 billion. Altana Pharma US develops and markets a variety of respiratory and gastrointestinal treatments.

“We made the decision to join the ranks of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey,” according to George Cole, president of Altana. His company has working relationships with several of those companies, including American Home Products/Wyeth-Ayerst, Aventis Pharmaceuticals and GPC Biotech.

Jeffrey J. Garibaldi, president of the Garibaldi Group, Chatham, NJ, represented Altana Pharma in the transaction. Jeff Heller, senior vice president of Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey, East Rutherford, is the exclusive leasing agent for Park Place on behalf of Advance Realty.

“Our strategy of redeveloping this campus has resulted in substantial demand for the recently renovated space,” according to Joseph R. Romano, senior vice president and regional managing director for Advance. The latter bought the vacated property last yearand spent multiple millions to reposition it as a multi-tenant class A campus.

“With Altana Pharma selecting Park Place as its US headquarters, we expect demand for the remaining space to increase,” concludes Romano, who notes that nearby international headquarters operations include ADP, Atlantic Mutual Cos., Honeywell International, Maersk, Novartis, Scherig-Plough, Pfizer and Wyeth.