RUTHERFORD, NJ—Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group has brokered the $120 million sale of The Meadows Office Complex in Rutherford. The 600,000-square-foot, two-building office complex traded from a joint venture of Onyx Equities and SL Green to a private investor.

Cushman & Wakefield's vice chairman, David Bernhaut,says the level of investor interest in the offering reflects strong demand at a transformational time for the New Jersey Meadowlands market. He headed the assignment with team members Andrew Merin, Gary Gabriel, Brian Whitmer and Kyle Schmidt. Bernhaut declined to identify the purchaser.

“SL Green has made a decision to focus more on the Manhattan urban core, and this was a turnaround acquisition for them and Onyx, and they turned it around,” David Bernhaut, vice chairman, Cushman & Wakefield, tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. “They leased it up to over 90 percent, the capital markets are right, the activity in the Meadowlands has been really strong, so they felt it was a good time to monetize the asset.”

Onyx continues to invest in office properties, Bernhaut says. “Onyx has always had a diverse platform, they look at all food groups,” he says. “We just closed on an office deal with them within the last two weeks, Hess's former headquarters in Woodbridge.”

The revival of the American Dream Mall project is a good sign for development and the Meadowlands, Bernhaut says.

“They are claiming 10,000 permanent jobs and 50 million visitors per year,” he says, noting that since the opening of the Secaucus Junction transit station, virtually all of the office complexes and residential communities and the Meadowlands provide shuttle service to the train station serving New York. “We're seeing a lot of residential development occur in the Meadowlands, we are seeing a lot of retail development, and the announcement that Hackensack University Medical Center is teaming up with Seton Hall to form New Jersey's first four-year medical college will be developed on Route 3, that will be a half a million square feet, the office market has improved dramatically, with tenants coming from the waterfront and even from Manhattan due to the cost savings available seven miles away from the city.”

Within this context, The Meadows—located at 201/301 Route 17 North at the intersections of Route 3 and the NJ Turnpike—is one of Northern New Jersey's few high-rise office towers outside of the Hudson Waterfront and the Newark CBD. The fully amenitized, institutional-quality property is nearly 90 percent leased, with tenants including MALO, Sony Music Entertainment, SGS North America and Shiseido Americas, among others.

The Meadows occupies an 8.8-acre site with a 4/1,000 parking ratio, 400-person cafeteria, conference center, onsite fitness and daycare centers, and unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline. The property was built in 1981 and extensively renovated in 2006 and again in 2014, when more than $4.5 million was spent to improve lobbies, elevators, restrooms, both facades, the parking deck and other common areas.

“The purchaser secured one of the highest-quality assets in the Meadowlands market at a good basis, at a time when market fundamentals are improving,” Gabriel says.