Clark Machemer, senior vice president, Rockefeller Group, with rendering of the Archer Hotel being built at the company's The Green at Florham Park development, Florham Park, NJ

FLORHAM PARK, NJ—Developers trying to revitalize suburban office parks need to be thinking outside the box about their renovation plans if they are to succeed, according to Clark F. Machemer, SVP and regional development officer of the Rockefeller Group Development Corp. Machemer is serving this year as president of the New Jersey NAIOP Chapter.

“In the markets where I'm working, you're not finding a 700,000-square-foot user that wants to plop down somewhere,” he tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. Success, he says, comes from acknowledging the realities in suburban office space. “The partner that you need is a community that recognizes the changing real estate market that's out there,” he says. “Florham Park has been able to adapt with us as we've changed our plan, not on a whim, but reflective of what the market is.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Machemer talked about the changing composition of Rockefeller's major redevelopment effort, and discussed some of the regulatory initiatives NAIOP New Jersey is pursuing.

The Rockefeller Group is redeveloping The Green at Florham Park, a large tract of suburban office properties, mainly consisting of the 500-acre former Exxon/Mobil office campus in Florham Park, with about 200 acres of buildable land, Machemer says.

“When we first sat down and re-envisioned what we were doing, it was a pretty straightforward project,” he recalls. “We're keeping a lot of the commercial space, adding a hotel, and active adult. What drove that was what the town was comfortable with, where the market was, and also looking at it from a traffic perspective. In suburban communities, you're limited by traffic and infrastructure that's there. As we've been moving forward on this project over time, we've come up with uses that I don't think we ever would have envisioned when we started the process.”

The New York Jets have selected the site for the team's new headquarters and training facility, and Machemer says he is still surprised at the idea of an NFL headquarters and five football fields on the property.

“The key is we are working with a very receptive community in Florham Park,” he says. “They recognize the benefits to the community of these changes that we're putting in.”

BASF, the German chemical company, has also relocated its headquarters to the property. “They stepped forward with us and created one of the most sustainable buildings, not only in New Jersey, but in the country,” he says, calling the BASF building “double platinum” for its strict attention to LEED certification requirements.

The arrival of the boutique Archer Hotel encouraged Rockefeller Group to plan for a robust retail component on the site as well, he says.

Summit Medical Group, one of the largest medical practices in New Jersey, is also relocating to The Green. “They are taking 100,000 square feet,” he says. “Summit Medical Group has been acquiring many doctors' practices under one roof, and that's really due to the changes in the healthcare industry.”

The development team continues to work closely with local officials, Machemer says. “We're fortunate with this upward trending market to be having a lot of different activity on site.”

In the podcast interview with Machemer in the player below, you can hear him discuss NAIOP New Jersey's views on downtown business district redevelopment and speculative investment in industrial properties.

Clark Machemer, senior vice president, Rockefeller Group, with rendering of the Archer Hotel being built at the company's The Green at Florham Park development, Florham Park, NJ

FLORHAM PARK, NJ—Developers trying to revitalize suburban office parks need to be thinking outside the box about their renovation plans if they are to succeed, according to Clark F. Machemer, SVP and regional development officer of the Rockefeller Group Development Corp. Machemer is serving this year as president of the New Jersey NAIOP Chapter.

“In the markets where I'm working, you're not finding a 700,000-square-foot user that wants to plop down somewhere,” he tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. Success, he says, comes from acknowledging the realities in suburban office space. “The partner that you need is a community that recognizes the changing real estate market that's out there,” he says. “Florham Park has been able to adapt with us as we've changed our plan, not on a whim, but reflective of what the market is.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Machemer talked about the changing composition of Rockefeller's major redevelopment effort, and discussed some of the regulatory initiatives NAIOP New Jersey is pursuing.

The Rockefeller Group is redeveloping The Green at Florham Park, a large tract of suburban office properties, mainly consisting of the 500-acre former Exxon/Mobil office campus in Florham Park, with about 200 acres of buildable land, Machemer says.

“When we first sat down and re-envisioned what we were doing, it was a pretty straightforward project,” he recalls. “We're keeping a lot of the commercial space, adding a hotel, and active adult. What drove that was what the town was comfortable with, where the market was, and also looking at it from a traffic perspective. In suburban communities, you're limited by traffic and infrastructure that's there. As we've been moving forward on this project over time, we've come up with uses that I don't think we ever would have envisioned when we started the process.”

The New York Jets have selected the site for the team's new headquarters and training facility, and Machemer says he is still surprised at the idea of an NFL headquarters and five football fields on the property.

“The key is we are working with a very receptive community in Florham Park,” he says. “They recognize the benefits to the community of these changes that we're putting in.”

BASF, the German chemical company, has also relocated its headquarters to the property. “They stepped forward with us and created one of the most sustainable buildings, not only in New Jersey, but in the country,” he says, calling the BASF building “double platinum” for its strict attention to LEED certification requirements.

The arrival of the boutique Archer Hotel encouraged Rockefeller Group to plan for a robust retail component on the site as well, he says.

Summit Medical Group, one of the largest medical practices in New Jersey, is also relocating to The Green. “They are taking 100,000 square feet,” he says. “Summit Medical Group has been acquiring many doctors' practices under one roof, and that's really due to the changes in the healthcare industry.”

The development team continues to work closely with local officials, Machemer says. “We're fortunate with this upward trending market to be having a lot of different activity on site.”

In the podcast interview with Machemer in the player below, you can hear him discuss NAIOP New Jersey's views on downtown business district redevelopment and speculative investment in industrial properties.

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Steve Lubetkin

Steve Lubetkin is the New Jersey and Philadelphia editor for GlobeSt.com. He is currently filling in covering Chicago and Midwest markets until a new permanent editor is named. He previously filled in covering Atlanta. Steve’s journalism background includes print and broadcast reporting for NJ news organizations. His audio and video work for GlobeSt.com has been honored by the Garden State Journalists Association, and he has also been recognized for video by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has produced audio podcasts on CRE topics for the NAR Commercial Division and the CCIM Institute. Steve has also served (from August 2017 to March 2018) as national broadcast news correspondent for CEOReport.com, a news website focused on practical advice for senior executives in small- and medium-sized companies. Steve also reports on-camera and covers conferences for NJSpotlight.com, a public policy news coverage website focused on New Jersey government and industry; and for clients of StateBroadcastNews.com, a division of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC. Steve has been the computer columnist for the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey, since 1996. Steve is co-author, with Toronto-based podcasting pioneer Donna Papacosta, of the book, The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional. You can email Steve at [email protected].