“We prefer to own and lease it,” Preston says. He estimates the construction cost at about $50 per sf, variable, depending on a client's demands. “The rent rate will be competitive,” he says and notes that the current market rate here is about $4.25 per sf.

“This is all a part of our Eastern Pennsylvania strategy,” says Preston, who is located in Higgins' Morristown, NJ office. Higgins has a significant investment in this side of the state. Preston says the company has a site for one million sf in the Lehigh Valley, another for 450,000 sf in Hazelton, and still another for 600,000 sf in Carlisle. These are in addition to its recently completed buildings in each of those locations and a PepsiCo build-to-suit that Higgins developed for owner JP Morgan.

The Arcadia North parcel is adjacent to a build-to-suit under way by St. Louis-based Clayco Realty Group for lease to Johnson & Johnson Sales and Logistics Co. LLC, as GlobeSt.com reported this March. The 600-acre park is located on Route 611 within the Interstate 81 corridor network of interstates.

Michael Bartolacci, SVP; Jeffrey Garibaldi, president; and Gerald Moore, managing director of the Garibaldi Group/Corfac International, represented both Arcadia and Higgins the land sale. The trio has negotiated many large land sales in this area, and Bartolacci says, “Pennsylvania continues to receive interest from an outstanding caliber of development companies.” Chatham, NJ-based Garibaldi also has an office in the Lehigh Valley and in Princeton, NJ.