The deal was arranged for Matrix by Steve Tolkach, managing principal of the Princeton office of Newmark Knight Frank. Seller Preferred Unlimited of Conshohocken, PA was represented in-house by Larry Doyle, and by brokers from Hamilton, NJ-based NAI Fennelly. The sale price was not disclosed. Preferred Unlimited, then known as Preferred Real Estate Investments, acquired the property from Paris-based chemical firm Rhodia Group in 2005 for a reported $35 million.

The property had served as the North American headquarters campus for Rhodia, and the latter has maintained a smaller leased presence on-site in the wake of that earlier sale. Much of the space was subsequently put on the market for lease by Preferred as part of a multi-tenant repositioning, and availabilities at the time of this latest sale were listed with asking prices of $22.50 per square foot for office, $16.50 per square foot for flex and $7.50 a foot for flex/industrial.

And the new owner will apparently continue that repositioning process. "Matrix has a lot of experience in the Exit 8A market," Tolkach says. "They have the expertise in mixed-use development that will make this property a huge success over the next several years. In a market climate in which it's very difficult to close even the most typical of sale transactions, this was a good example of a creative buyer and seller putting together a deal that will put this property in the hands of the most logical local developer/investor."