MONTVILLE, NJ—Real Capital Solutions and Vision Real Estate Partners have embarked on the spec renovation of one of the twin, class A buildings at their Mountain Ridge at Montville complex.

RCS/VREP is replacing the front of the travertine marble structure with a stone and glass curtain wall system. The design extends the third-story forward, creating distinctive exterior angles. Metal cladding and architectural elements will carry through to the back of the building, where a new awning will be installed.

Inside, a two-story atrium lobby will feature stone, millwork, upgraded lighting, and lounge seating with a coffee bar. The ownership will create a town hall-style conference area in the extended third-floor space, and refinish elevators, bathrooms and other common areas throughout the building. Mountain Ridge at Montville features flexible, 25,000-square-foot floor plates – including three stories and a lower level – with a 5/1,000 parking ratio.

The owners have named Cushman & Wakefield as exclusive leasing agent for the 27-acre Changebridge Road campus. Curtis Foster and Jerry Shifrin of the commercial real estate services firm’s East Rutherford, NJ, office are marketing the 200,000-square-foot former Bayer Pharmaceuticals office property.

“These institutional-quality buildings could serve as a headquarters facility for a single user or easily divide for multiple full-floor tenants,” Foster says. “Both Real Capital Solutions and Vision Real Estate Partners bring track records of successfully repurposing older buildings as modern workplaces with designs that offer both efficiency and aesthetics. This partnership is infusing energy and focus at Mountain Ridge at Montville, resulting in a desirable, high-profile leasing opportunity.”

The RCS/VREP partnership also is considering alternate uses for the second building at Mountain Ridge. Located on a gated, hilltop site with sweeping views of Morris County, the campus fronts on I-80 at exit 48, just two blocks from Route 46 at Hook Mountain Road, 1.5 miles from I-280 and three miles from I-287.

The offering comes at a time of mounting tenant demand for office space in the Northern New Jersey market, according to Cushman & Wakefield research. During the third quarter of 2015, the region experienced its highest amount of new leasing activity in nearly four years, Cushman & Wakefield says. Just under 1.5 million square feet of completed deals brought the year-to-date total to 4.1 million square feet, with Morris County accounting for 34.5 percent of that total.