"The sale illustrates the power of private investors in the NewJersey office market today," says Jose Cruz, a senior director withCushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group,East Rutherford. Cruz orchestrated the sale along with C&Wexecutive director James L. Frank.

According to Cruz, the sale went through a three-round biddingprocess involving 15 initial bidders before ABCProperties/Belvidere Capital opted to sell to Direct Invest. "Theoffering of 150 Morristown Rd. was met with heated competition frompotential buyers."

"Most of the top bidders were private players," Frank says."This can be attributed in part to the building's size, which issmaller than many institutions will consider. At the same time, theaggressive nature of the bid process dictates that private playersare among today's most notable investment groups. We've seenincreased competition from this group in light of the debt market'scurrent abundance of available capital."