Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Jones Lang LaSalle

Rreef Buys 231,000-SF Office Building
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: December 19, 2005 08:15am

PARAMUS, NJ-Rreef has picked up another property in the Garden State, buying the 231,000-sf Country Club Plaza office building here. The acquisition was made on behalf of one of the firm’s institutional clients, according to David M. Fazekas, a vice president in Rreef’s New York City office. The seller was the Skokie, IL-based American Landmark Properties.

Rreef was represented by Doug Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Realty, New York. The terms of the sale, including the sale price, were not released. However, sources estimate that the asset likely traded for a number in the $25-million to $28-million range.


Located at 115 W. Century Rd. on a 20-acre site adjacent to the Ridgewood Country Club in Bergen County, the four-story asset is near the intersection of Route 17 and the Garden State Parkway. It’s part of a two-building complex that includes the adjacent 60,000-sf Country Club Plaza II at 117 W. Century Rd.

Built in 1988, the building is listed with CB Richard Ellis with just over 29,000 sf of space currently available, which factors out to 88% occupancy. The available space, divisible to 11,000 sf with a maximum contiguous of 18,000 sf, is listed with the broker at an asking price of $27 per sf.

Current tenants at the property include Merrill Lynch, which houses a financial advisory team and global private client group on-site. Also in the building is the headquarters of Ajinomoto USA Inc., the US arm of the Tokyo-based specialty chemical company Ajinomoto Inc.; an office of National City Mortgage; and the law firm of Gallo, Geffner, Fenster PC.

The pick-up represents the second major acquisition in New Jersey in a week by Rreef on behalf of one of its clients. As reported last week by GlobeSt.com, the firm announced that it had bought a 352,000-sf industrial portfolio consisting of a 159,000-sf building in Franklin Township, and two buildings totaling 193,000 sf in Moorestown. The seller in that portfolio sale was LaSalle Investment Management.