Jones Lang LaSalle

Merger Fuels Lease Extension, Expansion for Accounting Firm
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: February 7, 2006 09:14am

EDISON, NJ-Weiser LLP, a top 20 national accounting firm, has extended and expanded its lease at 399 Thornall St. within M. Alfieri Co.’s Metropark Corporate Campus here. The firm, which had occupied 10,500 sf within the building, has signed on for a total of 25,000 sf for 15 years.

Weiser’s original lease had seven years to run, but the firm needed more space as a result of its merger with rival accounting firm Lipman Selznick & Witkowski in September 2005. Owner M. Alfieri, locally based, was represented in-house by Andy Parella. Weiser, meanwhile, was represented by Norman Baker, managing principal at Newmark Knight Frank.

“For Weiser, its current lease was extended while keeping current costs low,” Baker says. “LSW received great benefits to relocate and combine spaces. And the landlord was able to secure a long-term, full-floor lease with a credit worthy tenant.”

Further terms were not released; however, space at the building is listed on M. Alfieri’s website with an asking price of $31 per sf. 399 Thornall St. is part of a 14-story, two-building class A complex totaling 660,000 sf within the larger 1.5-million-sf Metropark Corporate Campus.

As part of the consolidation of the two merged firms, LSW is vacating its 13,500 sf at Lincoln Property Co.’s Raritan Center III, also known as 101 Fieldcrest Ave. here. The latter space will be marketed for sublet by Newmark Knight Frank managing principal Paul Giannone.