Jones Lang LaSalle

170,000 SF of Leases Fills Two Hartz Buildings
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: March 6, 2006 03:03pm
(To read more on the industrial market, click here.)

SECAUCUS, NJ-Hartz Mountain Industries, based here, has filled up two of its local buildings with a total of 170,000 of recently signed leases. Most of that is industrial space taken by two companies in Hartz’s 5601 Westside Ave. here.

In the largest of the signings, Petrapport has taken a total of 87,000 sf of distribution space at 5601 Westside Ave. The tenant is a 20-year-old company that provides pet products, marketing them under the Beefeaters brand. In the second lease at 5601 Westside, a 350,000-sf asset, Cort Furniture Rental has leased 67,000 sf. The tenant is a national furniture rental company, and the local site is one of its more than 200 locations nationwide.

And in a separate transaction, Petrapport has taken 8,000 sf at the nearby 5801 Westside Ave., effectively filling up that 134,000-sf Hartz-owned building. Petrapport is using the location to house its headquarters operations. Terms of the various transactions were not released.

“Tenants continue to choose this area for its infrastructure, which includes the Port of Newark and Elizabeth,” says Emanuel Stern, Hartz’s president and chief operating officer. “Any time there are industrial properties available within a few miles of so many mass transit options, there will be tenants who will take advantage of the opportunity to be located here.”

And while 5601 and 5801 Westside Ave. are both now fully leased, Hartz still has space available at other of its nearby buildings, including facilities along Westside Ave., Tonnelle Ave. and 91st St. Ernie Christoph and Charlie Reese are handling the various locations internally for Hartz. Hartz’s current portfolio totals approximately 200 industrial, office and retail properties in the New Jersey/New York metro area, amounting to some 38 million sf.