Jones Lang LaSalle

Alexander Street

Alexander Street is the current focus of Princeton University's attention, as one of two possible locations for the proposed arts center provided by the largesse of alumnus Peter B. Lewis.
Now the university is buying property further down that road, the two 48,000-foot office buildings at the corner of Alexander Road and Canal Pointe Boulevard. Its offer on 600 and 619 Alexander has been accepted, says Cass Cliatt, university spokesperson. Tenants have received notification letters of the possible sale, and the university is in its "due diligence" period.

Peter Dodds of Garibaldi, Morford, and Dodds, which often represents Princeton University in these matters, had no comment.

"We made an offer to purchase them and the office has been accepted. We are in the process of due diligence," says Cliatt. "We would sustain commercial tenants there in some space and use the remaining space for administrative personnel and other purposes." The university's policy is to pay taxes on any building that it buys that has a commercial use.

To enhance the creative arts at the university, Lewis, a member of the Class of 1955 who made his fortune from Progressive Insurance, is donating $101 million, some of which will be used for bricks and mortar. One possible site is the area west of the current creative arts building, 185 Nassau Street, plus Green and Frick halls on Washington Road. Another is the area south of the McCarter and Berlind theaters near the Dinky station.

But there is no reason to link the arts project with the Alexander Road purchase, says Cliatt: "The use being viewed is administrative."

The Alexander Road purchase "was a quiet, under-the-radar transaction," says Bill Barish, whose firm, Commercial Property Network, leases the buildings for the Eagle Group, based on State Street in Trenton and owned by Sidney L. Hofing. The price was not disclosed, but Barish suggests it had a price point "that continues to prove the value of the Princeton real estate market."
The sole occupants of 619 Alexander are Sovereign Bank and Nassau Broadcasting, and Barish notes that those leases do not expire for at least 10 years. Tenants at 600 Alexander Road include the law firm of Maselli Warren, Re/Max Princeton, Snelling Personnel, and Orion Clinical Solutions. The newest, just-signed tenant is Servion Global Solutions.