Another real estate executive adds the caveat that sites must be analyzed in excruciating detail to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the existing structures as well as their locations before investing in updating. “You want to be extremely careful that you're not putting lipstick on a pig,” the broker, who chose anonymity, explained.

On the other hand, developers say, adding a little lipstick—e.g. paint, texture, lighting, a new doorway, attractive new signage—can take years off a good building.

Morreale's company has taken on several of the state's biggest and most transformative commercial office renovation projects. Last year, its move to develop a large part of the former Alcatel-Lucent campus in Whippany as a new headquarters site for Bayer Healthcare was recognized as NAIOP's “Creative Deal of the Year.” The 200-acre property had 15 vacant buildings with more than one million square feet when it changed hands in 2010. Two of those structures totaling 450,000 square feet have now been completely renovated and revitalized as part of the new LEED Gold-standard Bayer headquarters campus.

Other projects under way—a couple by Vision Equities, and several by other companies focusing on adaptive re-use—are not so large or comprehensive. “Not every project requires that you strip down to the steel, remove the guts, and essentially re-build,” says Prism Partners' Eugene R. Diaz. His company is close to completing a gut-rehab of a 90-year-old industrial building in Bloomfield into 350 loft apartments. But it also recently completed a much less drastic modernization of a 30-year-old office building in Lawrenceville that was nonetheless “transformational,” the principal notes.

There is a growing move toward a sort of adaptive re-use “lite” or, if you will, adaptive sprucing. That might be a way to describe Transwestern's step-by-step undertaking with Parsippany's 300 Kimball Dr., for example. The 400,000-square-foot former insurance office is only 12 years old, compared to an average age of 24 years for Parsippany office buildings, but it has been mostly empty since original tenant State Farm decamped almost three years ago.

For the past year, Transwestern has focused on updating the look and feel of the capacious space and adding amenities that will appeal to “today's tenants of distinction,” says Matthew S. McDonough, a managing director of tenant advisory for the firm. “The standard package of renovations today is: new lobby, upgraded common areas, adding an exercise facility and new food service.”

The first three have been accomplished; the latest improvement to 300 Kimball is a new 224-seat cafeteria. One windowed wall of the dining room overlooks the large patio, which can seat another 100 people. There is a full deli, salad bar and specialty serving area, soft seating areas for coffee and bright modern furniture in the main eating area.

“Every tenant in the market for space wants to dwindle down the list of potential buildings before they even go out and look,” observes McDonough. “One of the first questions they ask is about food service, and they want to know if it's a good one.”

Also on the new “standard” list of renovations that potential tenants demand, according to Diaz and other re-builders: upgrades to energy efficiency. This can mean anything from basic switch-outs and and repairs to HVAC systems, to meeting the exacting requirements for getting an existing building qualified for LEED certification. Older offices owned or managed by SJP Properties, Mack-Cali Corp. and Prism, along with Transwestern's 300 Kimball, have all been brought to LEED Silver operating standards within the past year.

A 100-year-old building in Downtown Newark that is being renovated into a new European-brand hotel is getting a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly air-conditioning system. “It's called variable refrigerant flow,” says Miles Berger, chairman and CEO of the Berger Organization, which is rehabbing the onetime Carlton Hotel—first opened as the Ford Hotel in 1904—as a Tryp by Wyndham. The new system, made by Mitsubishi, utilizes one compressor per floor. The smart device can channel excess heat or coolness from room to room automatically, as needed.

In the post-Sandy era, there's also rising interest in whether older buildings can be retrofitted with additional back-up power. Diaz says his company is looking into the feasibility of re-building rooftops on some buildings so that shared generators could be moved there.

In Moorestown, Keystone Property Group is at work on rehabbing and re-positioning a three-building office complex it acquired late last year when the buildings were “extraordinarily tired,” according to the company's Mid-Atlantic regional director, Scott Paymer. “This is what we do,” he says. “We find tired buildings and we make the necessary improvements to meet market demand.”

The Moorestown buildings have great bones, abundant windows and an awesome address in a town named a Best Place to Live by Money magazine a few years ago, only about a half hour drive from Center City Philadelphia. However, the structures were all older than 25 years and looked it, which was their primary problem in attracting tenants, Paymer says. Two of the buildings had big vacancies—53,000 square feet on two floors in one structure, and 33,000 square feet in another.

They can attract tenants, says Paymer, and they'll get looks in a market that is sparse on large blocks of space. A few fixes and some serious primping is all they really need. So Keystone plans the following beauty regimen for Moorestown Corporate Center's 223,000 square feet.

Step 1: Repaving the Surfaces: “A beat-up parking lot makes a rotten first impression and a lot of times you get crossed off the list before the client even goes inside,” says Paymer.

Step 2: Fixing Up the Yard: New exterior landscaping and classy monument signs are being installed at Moorestown.

Step 3: Tightening Up (or Replacing) the Systems: HVAC, electronic, etc.

Step 4: Finding the Interior Beauty: “Lighten up the colors and make the finishes modern,” Paymer says. And that's lightening up—literally. That is to say, installing modern lighting and fixtures.

Prism's Diaz says lighting is becoming an important element in renovations, since it can have a significant impact on building aesthetics as well as energy efficiency. “An LED bulb can last 20 years,” he says. “They're making bulbs that can turn five different colors, with processers that allow you to vary the color of light dramatically. You can do a lot with lighting and accents to create an image and an identity for a lobby or common areas. It's maximum impact for minimum dollars.”

Also, color. Every one of the market specialists interviewed for this story—whether they were discussing office, multifamily, industrial or retail properties—mentioned the importance of lighter-toned finishes, natural light and color.

At Berger's Newark hotel building, a black-walled, black-ceilinged former discotheque will be renovated to house a sleek and shiny dining room/bar, designed to be “fresh and inviting,” says Berger. And black is no longer the new anything. “It's old-fashioned and depressing,” and not likely to attract the younger crowd from the Prudential Center across the way for drinks or dinner.

Diaz talks about the 50,000-square-foot building at 1000 Lenox Dr. in Lawrenceville, where his firm recently negotiated a 10-year lease extension with the single tenant, an architectural firm. The pre-cast cement structure is nearly three decades old, but the exterior is still in fine shape. Nevertheless, the landlord and, as it turns out, the tenant, were seriously interested in giving it some modern pop. “Monochromatic gray on a smaller, older building in a big office park doesn't really cause anyone to notice the design,” says Diaz. “So the tenant said, 'Let's add color.'” Together, they chose a color: “This building is in Princeton (just outside, actually), which has the Princeton Tigers, so orange is a recognized color in the area. It is a warm, almost hot, color. We went with orange for the accent color on the exterior.”

In the lobby, the architects wanted to eject the old black-slate flooring and the parties agreed on lighter-colored terrazzo tile. “Terrazzo got dropped for granite and marble a long time ago,” Diaz says with a laugh. “Now, terrazzo is a more modern look.”

Diaz also sits on the board of Englewood Hospital, which is undergoing an expansion and renovation project, and appreciates the way newly developed materials are being put to use there, too. “Vinyl flooring that looks like wood,” he says. “Pre-fab texturized wall board that adds interest without having to wallpaper. New materials that are eco-friendly, more durable. You can do a lot of things with renovation you just couldn't 20 years ago.”

Keystone's Paymer—who has a side job as a rock concert photographer, having captured the ostentatious performers Lady Gaga and Mick Jagger on film—says design “drama” is not necessarily enough to make a building feel really alive. The existing three-story atrium lobbies in the Moorestown center did have visual impact, he acknowledges. Yet he says they lacked “functionality.” The building's lobbies are now going to be equipped with Wi-Fi. Bricked-off enclaves are to be added to set off quick-conference or short-time work areas. “That will bring some real life to the empty drama of the space,” Paymer says. “It will completely change the vibe.”