Cushman & Wakefield Inks 265 Davidson Ave. Office Property Trade

Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey, Inc.
One Meadowlands Plaza
East Rutherford, New Jersey 07073

Media Contact: Evelyn Weiss Francisco: [email protected], (201) 796-7788

Cushman & Wakefield Inks 265 Davidson Ave. Office Property Trade
Friendwell Buys Class A Asset in Somerset from KBS Realty Advisors for $9.1M

SOMERSET, N.J., Aug. 23, 2010 – Commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group has orchestrated the $9.1 million sale of 265 Davidson Ave. in the Somerset section of Franklin Twp. Friendwell Property Investment Co. purchased the 176,000-square-foot, Class A office building from KBS Realty Advisors.

The four-story, multi-tenanted building sits on more than 14 acres less than one mile from Exit 10 of I-287. “This neighborhood is a well-known corporate back-office submarket, and 265 Davidson is recognized as one of its best institutional-quality properties,” noted Cushman & Wakefield’s David Bernhaut, who headed the transaction with team members Andrew Merin and Gary Gabriel. “At the same time, the submarket faces challenging conditions with relatively high vacancy rates.”

Within this context, 265 Davidson Ave. currently is 65 percent occupied. “Friendwell acquired a superior asset at an excellent cost basis – combining current cash flow with the opportunity to lease up space at very competitive rental rates,” Bernhaut added. “This is a great long-term investment for a group that is focused on building a strong northern New Jersey commercial portfolio.” The property’s main entrance leads to a full-height atrium lobby with stainless steel and glass rail finishes. Flexible, 45,000-square-foot floor plates accommodate full-floor users and are easily divisible for smaller tenants.

265 Davidson Ave. is within minutes of the NJ Turnpike; Garden State Parkway; I-78; routes 1, 22, 202 and 206; and the Princeton and Rutgers Research Corridor. According to Bernhaut, these abundant highway alternatives and strong area demographics have attracted a blue-chip roster of corporate neighbors including MetLife, Prudential, Cablevision, AT&T, Nissan, and Mitsubishi, along with numerous hotels and conference facilities.

The Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, based in Cushman & Wakefield’s East Rutherford, N.J., office, specializes exclusively in real estate sales, joint ventures and financing in Northern New Jersey; Fairfield County, Conn.; and Long Island and Westchester County, N.Y. The team has completed more than $13.8 billion worth of transactions since 2000. Over the past four years, this included an average of $1.3 billion annually, reaching $2.7 billion in 2007.

###