UNION, NJ-Newmark Knight Frank represented The TriZetto Group, Inc. in a long-term lease for 67,763 square feet at 1085 Morris Avenue in Union, New Jersey. The Colorado-based healthcare IT software and service firm has kept its regional office at the address, across from Kean University, since 2003.
In a competitive office market still responding to years of severe contraction by “Big Pharma” in northern New Jersey, the desire to make the deal was described as compelling by those representing both tenant and landlord.
“Trizetto’s primary goal is to have access to the health care industry in this area of northern New Jersey that has access to the major highways and proximity to Newark Liberty airport,” says Rich Mirliss, part of a NKF team that represented the company.
Cushman & Wakefield represented AGL Resources, the landlord for the Morris Avenue office building built in 1988 when the region was still building a reputation as “the nation’s medicine chest.”
“In today’s world, when certain sub-markets are doing poorly, if a landlord isn’t pro-active toward the end of a term lease,” says Cushman & Wakefield’s David Stifelman, “the tenant becomes no longer a captive audience and could go anywhere.”
“The tenant came to us early, prior to expiration in 2013,” says Stifelman, who worked with Dan Johnsen on the lease deal. “As an inducement for them to stay long term we restructured their lease, reduced square footage by about 25 percent, and offered a better financial package.”
Mirliss said that his clients did consider other available space in the region. However, weighing in the potential costs of relocation and refitting space, they opted for a new ten-year lease in a location the company has found to be ideal.
Merck & Co. Inc., a large pharmaceutical company, maintains offices at 1095 Morris Avenue, adjacent to the TriZetto office.
“There are positive signs that pharma and bio-pharma, tenants do seem to want to stay in this area,” said Mirliss. “The distance to Manhattan is critical to them. The transportation/commutation infrastructure is key. And for attraction and retrention of high-caliber employes, this is still the place to be.”
Along with Mirliss, Richard J. Madison, Bill Benton (with the firm’s San Francisco office), Hope Brodsky and Kieran McGee represented TriZetto in the transaction.
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