Rockefeller Group buys N.J. site for $57 million; will develop logistics center

In what is being touted as one of the largest development rights transactions in New Jersey history, the Rockefeller Group has acquired a 228-acre industrial tract from its two owners for $57 million, and will break ground later this summer on a 2.2 million square- foot logistics center for between $225 million and $250 million.

The 2.4 million square-foot tract, located off Interstate 287 in Piscataway, N.J., was sold by Lincoln Equities Group LLC, and its partner, Real Capital Solutions. The two companies bought the property, which had been vacant since the 1960s, in 2014. They subsequently developed a site plan and secured development rights to construct up to eight buildings ranging from 250,000 square feet to 700,000 square feet, as well as new roads, infrastructure, and landscaping.

"This property closes at an important time for the state's I-287 corridor, which is now seeing significant interest from industrial developers due to its proximity to Newark's airport, port, and rail stations," Joel Bergstein, Lincoln Equities' president, said in a statement. Bergstein said the companies bought the site at a time "most developers were focusing on the I-95 corridor, and we're fortunate to anticipate where the state's next wave of development would take place."

I-287 operates as a partial beltway around New York City, serving the northern half of New Jersey and the counties of Rockland and Westchester in New York.

Separately, Chicago-based real estate services giant Cushman & Wakefield said today that it has negotiated the sale of a 1.2-acre site in downtown Miami currently home to FedEx Corp.'s 110,000-square-foot, last-mile distribution center. Long Island, N.Y.-based developer Lalezarian Properties bought the property from Miami-based investor Fifteen Group for slightly more than $37.2 million.

The site was developed in 1999 as a 109,600-square-foot, build-to-suit facility for FedEx. The six-story building serves as a last-mile warehouse and retail packaging center serving Miami's downtown core. Memphis-based FedEx, which is the sole tenant, recently signed a 12-year lease renewal at the property.

Although local zoning ordinances enables Lalezarian Properties to redevelop the property for other uses, it is believed that FedEx will be in the property through the term of the 12-year lease unless it makes arrangements to relocate.