Jones Lang LaSalle
Patrinely at the Forrestal Center
If a large tenant needs 130,000 square feet, or needs to be north of Princeton, the Patrinely choice would be obvious.
Patrinely's 1100 Campus Road, the first of several planned buildings there, is made of clad and precast stone and granite. The smallest unit is on the first floor, 5,000 square feet, and that floor also has 8,000 and 10,000-foot spaces, plus a fitness center and cafe. The top three floors have 36,000 square feet. "It is not our intention to have 25-30 tenants in a building like this, but we could," says Tom Bermingham, Patrinely's senior vice president of the northeast region.
Cost: $36.50 per square foot, plus electricity.
Founded in 1984 by Dean Patrinely, who had worked with the well-known developer Gerald Hines, Patrinely is a privately held firm that focuses on build-to-suit projects. Based in Houston, Texas, it has a portfolio valued at about $1 billion in residential and commercial development. In addition to the Forrestal Center project, others are underway in Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, and Bethesda.
Patrinely's philosophy: to develop buildings and sell them. For instance, it built 225,000 square feet at College Road West and cashed out with an early sale to Miami-based New Valley Corporation for $54 million in 2003. It was resold two years later to a Swiss-based investment group for $71.5 million or $317 per foot, one of the highest prices paid in the Princeton market. The larger of two buildings here is the North American headquarters of Novo Nordisk, and another major tenant is American Re.
For Patrinely's Campus Road project, the financial partner is San Antonio-based United Services Automobile Association. It was designed by Terry Steelman, a former Hillier Architect who is now with Ballinger in Philadelphia, and built by Driscoll Construction.
"We felt the Princeton market was underserved for Class A office space, because nothing had been built in the last five years, so we purchased property for a five-building 800,000 square foot campus," says Bermingham. A 1973 Boston College graduate, he is the son of RCA's general counsel who managed RCA's merger with General Electric.
"Contrarian in view, but still very bullish on Princeton, we decided to go ahead with the project, totally on spec."
One advantage for Campus Road is its design flexibility, because it is column free. "Our columns are on the exterior and on the central spine, so no columns interfere with layout and design. Buildings that are more square will have columns piercing the slab and running through the center," says Bermingham. For instance, the Hilton building has columns at 40-foot intervals.
Who might want a clear vista and an open floor plan, with not many closed-door offices? Financial services firms, trading operations, sales firms, pharmaceutical companies, and software designers, says Bermingham. "We are having a good amount of activity, and two proposals are under consideration."
Other competitive advantages: good parking (four cars per 1,000 square feet) and a site large enough to allow for companies to expand.
The price is lower than space in downtown Princeton, higher than older buildings at the Carnegie Center, and about equal to values in Bergen County. But as Bermingham points out, Bergen County has no new buildings.
Historically markets like Princeton have acted as a pressure valve market, because when prices go higher in New York, companies move to Princeton. "Midtown is as costly and tight as it has been for a decade and a half, more than $100 per square foot," says Bermingham. "In my experience, Princeton attracts companies that are there now and need to expand, or those coming from New York or Philadelphia. Certainly it is less costly for employees and there is less turnover than in north Jersey, The area in Bergen/Morris counties has a more New York-centric attitude."
The New Jersey economy has not been as robust in terms of creating jobs as might have been hoped, which has kept significant amounts of space open, says Bermingham. "As property ages, it slips in class, and now there is a large amount of Class B space on the market."
"Patrinely was finished last October, and it had a six to nine month advantage in terms of being able to show finished product. In ordinary times it could have capitalized on that and have an advantage," says Knights, who represents the Forrestal Center. "But the lack of demand for office space has eroded that advantage for Patrinely. The other two are catching up."
Patrinely at the Forrestal Center
If a large tenant needs 130,000 square feet, or needs to be north of Princeton, the Patrinely choice would be obvious.
Patrinely's 1100 Campus Road, the first of several planned buildings there, is made of clad and precast stone and granite. The smallest unit is on the first floor, 5,000 square feet, and that floor also has 8,000 and 10,000-foot spaces, plus a fitness center and cafe. The top three floors have 36,000 square feet. "It is not our intention to have 25-30 tenants in a building like this, but we could," says Tom Bermingham, Patrinely's senior vice president of the northeast region.
Cost: $36.50 per square foot, plus electricity.
Founded in 1984 by Dean Patrinely, who had worked with the well-known developer Gerald Hines, Patrinely is a privately held firm that focuses on build-to-suit projects. Based in Houston, Texas, it has a portfolio valued at about $1 billion in residential and commercial development. In addition to the Forrestal Center project, others are underway in Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, and Bethesda.
Patrinely's philosophy: to develop buildings and sell them. For instance, it built 225,000 square feet at College Road West and cashed out with an early sale to Miami-based New Valley Corporation for $54 million in 2003. It was resold two years later to a Swiss-based investment group for $71.5 million or $317 per foot, one of the highest prices paid in the Princeton market. The larger of two buildings here is the North American headquarters of Novo Nordisk, and another major tenant is American Re.
For Patrinely's Campus Road project, the financial partner is San Antonio-based United Services Automobile Association. It was designed by Terry Steelman, a former Hillier Architect who is now with Ballinger in Philadelphia, and built by Driscoll Construction.
"We felt the Princeton market was underserved for Class A office space, because nothing had been built in the last five years, so we purchased property for a five-building 800,000 square foot campus," says Bermingham. A 1973 Boston College graduate, he is the son of RCA's general counsel who managed RCA's merger with General Electric.
"Contrarian in view, but still very bullish on Princeton, we decided to go ahead with the project, totally on spec."
One advantage for Campus Road is its design flexibility, because it is column free. "Our columns are on the exterior and on the central spine, so no columns interfere with layout and design. Buildings that are more square will have columns piercing the slab and running through the center," says Bermingham. For instance, the Hilton building has columns at 40-foot intervals.
Who might want a clear vista and an open floor plan, with not many closed-door offices? Financial services firms, trading operations, sales firms, pharmaceutical companies, and software designers, says Bermingham. "We are having a good amount of activity, and two proposals are under consideration."
Other competitive advantages: good parking (four cars per 1,000 square feet) and a site large enough to allow for companies to expand.
The price is lower than space in downtown Princeton, higher than older buildings at the Carnegie Center, and about equal to values in Bergen County. But as Bermingham points out, Bergen County has no new buildings.
Historically markets like Princeton have acted as a pressure valve market, because when prices go higher in New York, companies move to Princeton. "Midtown is as costly and tight as it has been for a decade and a half, more than $100 per square foot," says Bermingham. "In my experience, Princeton attracts companies that are there now and need to expand, or those coming from New York or Philadelphia. Certainly it is less costly for employees and there is less turnover than in north Jersey, The area in Bergen/Morris counties has a more New York-centric attitude."
The New Jersey economy has not been as robust in terms of creating jobs as might have been hoped, which has kept significant amounts of space open, says Bermingham. "As property ages, it slips in class, and now there is a large amount of Class B space on the market."
"Patrinely was finished last October, and it had a six to nine month advantage in terms of being able to show finished product. In ordinary times it could have capitalized on that and have an advantage," says Knights, who represents the Forrestal Center. "But the lack of demand for office space has eroded that advantage for Patrinely. The other two are catching up."
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:20 AM
<< Home