Jones Lang LaSalle

UPDATE: Brookfield Gets Allied Junction Nod
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: April 13, 2006 11:42am

SECAUCUS, NJ-Brookfield Properties Corp. is apparently the unnamed "national office property developer" tapped by Allied Junction Corp. to buy the 28-acre site surrounding the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station and the development rights for the massive Allied Junction mixed-use project. According to a report, the owner of Manhattan’s World Financial Center has been picked by current owner Allied Junction Corp. to build out a project that has been in the works for nearly 25 years, with a site plan approved more than a decade ago.

Allied Junction Corp. president/CEO Marc Joseph has declined to confirm the report, opting to leave a formal announcement to the chosen developer. A spokesman for Brookfield declined to comment.

However, "it is our understanding from the phone call we received from Marc Joseph that the developer is Brookfield Properties of New York," says Chris Gale of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, the state agency that oversees planning and development in the Meadowlands region. "We do not have official notice from the developer, and as such we cannot comment further at this time."

Brookfield will start with the general site plan approved years ago by the NJMC, although a final plan is subject to amendment by agreement between the NJMC and the developer. As it stands, the approved plan calls for four class A office towers of up to 40 stories, totaling 3.5 million sf. Also part of the plan is a 600-room hotel and conference center, a 112,000-sf retail concourse and a six-level, 4,400-car parking garage. Allied Junction and NJMC officials pegged the total cost in the $1-billion range.