Jones Lang LaSalle


DOV Pharma Set to Move HQ
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: April 10, 2006 08:46am

FRANKLIN TWP., NJ-DOV Pharmaceutical Inc. is set to move its headquarters from Hackensack to the 133,686-sf former Unilever Bestfoods R&D center at 150 Pierce St. here. The sale of the building and the simultaneous full-building lease were reported last week by GlobeSt.com, but the parties involved in the two related transactions declined to identify the new tenant pending a formal announcement of its relocation. The tenant was described by a broker involved in the building sale only as "a specialty pharmaceutical company that is relocating from Bergen County."

Details of DOV Pharmaceutical’s pending relocation have emerged, however, regarding a financing package for the building’s acquisition. Paragon 150 Pierce Street LLC, an affiliate of the Montvale-based Paragon Realty Group, bought the building from Unilever for undisclosed price in a transaction brokered by GVA Williams of NJ. However, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s Florham Park office has announced that it has arranged a $13.2-million loan for Paragon relating to the acquisition, reporting the deal as a 10-year, fixed-rate package provided by CIBC World Markets.

"The loan was used to acquire and renovate the vacant building for DOV Pharmaceutical," says Jon Mikula, senior managing director in HFF’s New Jersey office. The property hit the for-sale or sublease market in mid 2003 when the parent shuttered its Unilever Bestfoods North America R&D operation and relocated it to the company’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs. Completed in the early ’90s, the asset features a 57,000-sf lab wing and a multi-function pilot plant area with 27-foot clear height. The 17-acre site also has the capability for the future expansion of the existing facility.

DOV Pharmaceutical develops treatments related to central nervous system disorders. A spokesman would not comment on the company’s pending move to this Somerset County location.