NEWARK-All office space leasing is now complete at the Military Park Building owned by The Berger Organization in Newark. Only a 6,000-square-foot restaurant space remains available at 60 Park Place, which is situated next to downtown headquarters for Prudential and PSE&G.
Several first-quarter lease transactions, all negotiated by Brendan Berger, the company’s vice-president of leasing, retained long-term tenants and filled the last remaining office space at the property, which is located at 60 Park Place. A total of 70,000 square feet has been leased since Berger acquired the property in 2008.
"In four years, we have brought the property from 75 to 99% occupancy,” says Brendan Berger. The company invested in the purchase and upgrading of the 85-year-old tower with the goal of establishing it as a “destination of choice,” which it is now very close to fully accomplishing, he said.
To fill the restaurant space, Berger said the company is targeting operators who could draw patrons both from the daytime population at the adjacent headquarters buildings and after-hours traffic from the nearby New Jersey Arts Center, Prudential Center, and other entertainment venues.
The overall vacancy rate in downtown Newark is currently about 16.9% percent, according to Richard Baumstein, a Cushman & Wakefield vice-president, who cited fresh first quarter data. Average rent was $23.84 in the first quarter, he tells GlobeSt.com.
“Historically, the twelve buildings at Military Park have been an unusual market, and have done better than the overall,” Baumstein says.
The recent lease transactions at 60 Park included:
- A 6,230-square-foot, long-term lease renewal by the Education Law Center, a non-profit organization that has occupied space at Military Park for ten years.
- A 4,315-square-foot, long-term lease renewal by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, which has maintained its headquarters there since 2004.
- A 1,200-square-foot expansion by Somerset Christian College, which now occupies more than 15,000 square feet, having relocated from Zarephath, NJ.
- A 900-square-foot lease for a start-up organization, WNJR-Newark.com, an online commercial radio station.
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