PISCATAWAY, NJ–GTJ REIT, a public non-traded real estate investment trust based in West Hempstead, NY, has paid $63.77 million for a portfolio of six industrial buildings in Piscataway, NJ. The facility is 100% leased by seven different long-standing tenants, including Nomura Securities and Verizon. 

The portfolio purchase consists of six buildings with an aggregate square footage of 681,754 in Piscataway, NJ. Melissa Sheer, president of Kent Place Communications, a public relations firm representing GTJ, says the properties are located at: 4 Corporate Place, 8 Corporate Place, 25 Corporate Place South, 11 Constitution Avenue, 21 Constitution Avenue and 1110 Centennial Avenue in Piscataway.

The properties are centrally located immediately off exits 6 and 7 of Interstate 287.  The buildings sit in a redundant power grid with two separate and distinct power sources, affording tenants with backup power in times of emergency.  The properties are located in the Route 287 submarket – a market that consists of 1,143 buildings with 101.2 million square feet of industrial/manufacturing space.

This is GTJ's second acquisition of 2015 and follows a very strong 2014, where the firm completed five transactions across the tri-state area. In January of this year, GTJ announced the acquisition of a single story industrial building in Rocky Hill, CT, currently leased and occupied by the Connecticut Lottery Corporation. With this acquisition, GTJ now owns 45 properties consisting of close to 5 million square feet on approximately 335 acres of land.

“We are pleased to announce this acquisition, one of our largest completed deals to date,” says Paul Cooper, CEO of GTJ. “The size and scale of this transaction reinforces our long-term commitment to expanding our footprint in the Northeast region.  We believe the central New Jersey location, the power redundancy amenity and the strong occupancy of the Route 287 submarket make this a very attractive investment for our growing New Jersey portfolio.”

“We are excited about this entry into Piscataway, complementing our current New Jersey portfolio of properties in Morris Plains and Parsippany,” says Louis Sheinker, president and COO of GTJ. “There are very few transactions of this scale and quality and believe this unique acquisition will serve to enhance our returns for the benefit of our shareholders.”