Suburban Office Park Redevelopment Requires 'Outside the Box' Thinking, Says Rockefeller Group's Machemer

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.”