BASKING RIDGE, NJ-A joint venture of Onyx Equities and Rubenstein Partners has acquired the office building at 211 Mount Airy Road here and leased back nearly half of its space to previous owner Avaya.

Business communications firm Avaya consolidated operations into 135,000 square feet at the 282,000-square-foot building. It had owned the Mt. Airy Road space since 2001.

The purchase agreement allows the new owners to market the entire space, to full and partial users. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The property has a cafeteria, fitness center, conference facility and an auditorium. Onyx and Rubenstein plan to invest in replacing a portion of the building's façade, expanding window lines, and upgrading the signage, lobby, cafeteria, bathrooms and amenity spaces. 

“We view this as a strategic opportunity to acquire a meticulously maintained, headquarters-quality asset,” says Stephen Sullivan of Onyx. “Upon completion of our capital improvement program, 211 Mount Airy Road will offer prospective tenants the highest quality product with an outstanding amenity package at very competitive rental rates.”  

Set on 52 acres, the property is located directly off a full interchange of I-287. It is accessible to major highways including I-287 and I-78 and Sullivan noted it provides access to a highly skilled labor pool.

David Rubenstein of Rubenstein Partners notes that his company had been looking to partner with Woodbridge-based Onyx for several years. "This acquisition is an exciting opportunity to leverage our experience as an owner-operator of office assets and to utilize our fully integrated platform in combination with a top-tier operating partner in Onyx,” he says.