Lucent Looks to Shed 2M-SF Bell Labs Building

HOLMDEL, NJ-Lucent Technologies’ two-million-sf Bell Labs building here is on the for-sale market–maybe. Because of the telecom industry’s various consolidations, layoffs and other personnel moves, the sprawling facility’s workforce is just 1,200, down from the 4,700 people who worked there five years ago, and an outright sale of the asset is one of the options as the company looks to cut costs.

Lucent has signed Cushman & Wakefield to assess those options, including Lucent retaining the asset. A spokesman for C&W declined to comment on the possible sale. A Lucent spokesman declined to reveal a possible asking price, but several industry sources estimate the building could bring anywhere between $200 million and $300 million. The property was assessed at $105 million in 2004 and the company paid more than $3 million in property taxes that year, according to local records.

Lucent officials haven’t even decided what to do if the building is in fact sold, according to the Lucent spokesman. Among the possibilities are a sale-leaseback with the company remaining on-site, occupying approximately one-quarter of the building. If the building is vacated, however, existing employees would likely be moved to other Lucent sites in the Garden State, including its world headquarters in Murray Hill or another company facility in Whippany.

The six-story building, which has floorplates of more than 330,000 sf and sits on a 470-acre site, was built by AT&T for its Bell Labs operation in 1962. It was expanded four years later and again in 1982 to its current size. The two million sf encompasses office and laboratory space, as well as a cafeteria and a health club.