SOMERSET, NJ- NAIOP New Jersey has announced the finalists for its commercial real estate Deal of the Year Awards. Three winners, one each for Industrial Deal of the Year, Office/Mixed-Use Deal of the Year, and Creative Deal of the Year, will be revealed at the organization's 26^th annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala on May 9 at The Palace at Somerset Park.

The two finalists in the Office/Mixed Use property category are:

• Pearson Education's lease of 200,000 square feet of the LEED-certified building SJP Properties has under construction now at its Waterfront Corporate Center in Hoboken. SJP is the developer; Jones Lang LaSalle, the broker; Biggins Lacy Shapiro, a consultant; the state Economic Development Authority, a financier; and USAA Real Estate Company; equity partner.

• Bayer's purchase of the former Alcatel-Lucent property in Whippany, which is to be completely renovated for its East Coast headquarters. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal; Vision Equities, the developer; Rubenstein Partners, capital partner; Resource Realty, a consultant.

The finalists for Industrial Deal of the Year are:

• Ahold eCommerce/Peapod and Imperial Paper Bag's move to become anchor tenants at the Prologis Ports facility under construction in Jersey City. Jones Lang LaSalle was the broker for Prologis, the developer; CBRE secured 345,000 square feet at the building for the Peapod online grocery company.

• Avidan's sale of its 2.6 million square feet portfolio of port-area industrial facilities to CFC, an affiliate of Cohen Asset Management. HFF was the lead broker, CFC represented itself and Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis served as counsel.

The finalists for Creative Deal of the Year are:

• Biomet's lease of 100,000 square feet in Parsippany for its new headquarters. Cushman & Wakefield brokered a deal that involved a fit-out of an existing building and a 28,000-square-foot expansion to suit Biomet by landlord, Prism Capital Partners.
• The sale of the former Merrill Lynch campus in Hopewell Township to Fortress Investment Group and two management partners, which has been called one of the largest transactions in New Jersey history. Normandy Real Estate Partners represented Bank of American in the $375 million sale of the 12-building office campus. Sun Pacific Properties and Skyline Pacific Properties were parties with Fortress in the deal.

Also at the gala, Steven J. Pozycki, founder and CEO of SJP Properties, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Impact Awards will go to The Kushner Real Estate Group and Prism Capital Partners. The Industry Service Award will be presented to HFF.