IDI Enters Philly, Sperry Van Ness Expands

PHILADELPHIA-Atlanta-based IDI has established a Northeast regional office here. Irvine, CA-based Sperry Van Ness adds a new top advisor to its local office. In launching this, its eighth development office nationwide, IDI hired Frank J. Petkunas, former SVP of development in the local office of Trammell Crow Co., as VP and regional development officer to head operations here.

His first priority, he says, “is to capitalize on the robust New Jersey industrial market by developing assets already in play and by acquiring new land sites in the area.” Next will be expansion into new regions, such as Central Pennsylvania and Baltimore/Washington, he says.

IDI already has several projects under way in this area in JVs with JP Morgan and Rockefeller Group. Among them are a site in Bordentown, NJ with capacity for a one-million-sf facility, a 427,000-sf building that is near completion in Cranbury, NJ, and a 320-acre park in Upper Freehold and Washington Twps., NJ, that is awaiting zoning approvals.

“Our initial interest in the New Jersey market stems strictly from market demand,” says Matt O’Sullivan, IDI SVP and chief development officer. “This entire region, including Eastern Pennsylvania, represents the third- or fourth-largest distribution market in the US. We need to be here.”

Meanwhile, Sperry Van Ness adds Mark D. Berk, former SVP of locally based Albert M. Greenfield & Co., senior advisor in its office here. Berk brings 30 years of experience to the new post. He joins Peter Peterson, director of organizational development, and Matthew Fitch, the firm’s regional manager here.