Ortho-McNeil Signs 65,000-SF Sublease
By Eric Peterson

BRIDGEWATER, NJ-Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. has signed a sublease for 65,000 sf, representing the entire three-story building at 1130 Route 22 here. The building is part of the four-building, 328,000-sf CenterPointe at Bridgewater office complex, which is owned by the San Mateo, CA-based Glenborough Realty Trust.

The sublessor is PNC Bank, which inherited the space early this year when it acquired United National Bancorp. The building, located near both I-287 and I-78, had been used as the corporate headquarters for United National’s UnitedTrust Co. operating division, and became excess space post-merger.

Shortly after the merger, PNC gave GVA Williams of NJ, Parsippany, the assignment to find a new occupant. In the latest transaction, that firm’s president David Simson, first vice president Jim Hersh and associate Tom Rapone repped PNC. Ortho-McNeil was represented by Michael Markey and John Tesser of Colliers Houston & Co., Teaneck. Terms of the sublease were not disclosed.

“The 287/78 corridor continues to experience demand from the pharmaceutical sector,” Simson says. Indeed, as reported by GlobeSt.com, earlier this month French pharma giant Sanofi-aventis signed a lease for 670,000 sf at the Gale Co.’s 55 Corporate Dr. here, representing all of a former AT&T campus. Sanofi-aventis will move its US headquarters to the site over the next year.

Ortho-McNeil, a Johnson & Johnson company, was created in 1993 by the merger of Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. and McNeil Pharmaceutical. The company has its corporate headquarters in nearby Raritan.