The 180-acre site was formerly owned by Ames Merchandising Corp., which was a Rocky Hill, CT-based discount retailer that liquidated its business in 2002. The property was sold pursuant to the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York.

The building includes 30-foot clear ceiling heights, 146 loading docks, all municipal services and parking for 1,000 trailers. The Arcadia, WI-based home furniture manufacturing company will use the site as a manufacturing and distribution center hub and create 500 jobs in the process. In October, Ashley took 62,000 sf of retail space vacated by Ames at the 217,500-sf Frederick Shopping Center in Frederick, MD.

The site was chosen after an "exhaustive search for a class A distribution center encompassing all of New Jersey and Upstate Pennsylvania," according Binswanger/CBB and the Binswanger/Klatskin alliance. The pair co-brokered the transaction on behalf of Ashley. Binswanger is headquartered in Philadelphia, while Klatskin is based in Teterboro, NJ. Steve Bonge, senior vice president, and Tim Brogan, vice president, both with Grubb & Ellis, represented the owner, Ames Department Stores. The Grubb team say the Ames facility drew a large amount of interest both nationally and internationally. The building's size, location and highway infrastructure in which it had access drew several strong prospects that wanted to establish a strong distribution network within the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.