Cushman & Wakefield Arranges Somerset Technology Center Sale

Hampshire Acquires Value-Add, Mixed-Use Property from Archon Group End Quote

Newark, NJ (1888PressRelease) July 28, 2010 - Somerset Technology Center, a two-building, 129,000-square-foot office and warehouse complex in Warren, traded in a late-second-quarter sale arranged by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.'s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group. The Hampshire Companies acquired the asset at 150 Mount Bethel Road from Archon Group.

According to Cushman & Wakefield's David Bernhaut, who orchestrated the transaction with team members Andrew Merin, Gary Gabriel, and Robert Donnelly, Jr., this value-add purchase involves a quality asset in a core market. "The Hampshire Companies capitalized on an attractive opportunity," he said. "The firm can reposition or redevelop this versatile office and flex campus, which is very well located between I-78 and Route 22. The excellent cost basis will provide tremendous flexibility in a challenging leasing environment."

150 Mount Bethel Road sits on 15.7 acres. Its 23,000-square-foot Building I includes of 17,000 square feet of warehouse and 6,000 square feet of office space. Building II totals 106,000 square feet, with 41,000 square feet of warehouse and 65,000 square feet of office space. The previous ownership had obtained approvals to redevelop and expand the existing site up to 172,000 square feet.

The property is centrally located within the prestigious Interstate 78 Corridor, home to major corporate, pharmaceutical and high-tech tenants. The submarket appeals to an array of employers attracted by easy access to major thoroughfares, a vast labor pool and executive housing options.

"Area demographics for Warren and Somerset counties offer consideration for alternative uses including medical office, office and high tech condos and residential," Bernhaut noted. "Somerset County ranked as the fifth most affluent county in the nation and has an estimated average household income of $117,685. From 2007 to 2008, it also had the second largest increase in population growth in New Jersey."

The Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group specializes exclusively in office, industrial, retail and land investment sales in Northern and Central New Jersey, Fairfield County, Conn., and Long Island and Westchester County, N.Y.; and multifamily investments in the same region as well as the Metro Philadelphia market, Southern New Jersey and Delaware. The team has completed more than $13.8 billion worth of transactions since 2000. Andrew Merin and David Bernhaut, who co-founded and head the Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, also oversee eastern regional activities for a new Cushman & Wakefield group that advises clients on corporate property dispositions throughout the United States.

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