The building in Ridgefield Park that houses Samsung Electronics America’s North American headquarters has been sold by the KABR Group to a Korean investment firm, the real estate firm announced.
KABR, which is also based in Ridgefield Park, said JLL represented the firm and procured the buyer, Asia Investment Management Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Seoul, Korea. Samsung leases about 233,000 square feet at the property at 85 Challenger Road, KABR said in a news release, and has been there for more than 10 years. The electronics giant signed a lease extension in 2019, the firm added. The building is located within the Overpeck Corporate Center.
The JLL Capital Markets team that worked on the deal was led by Jose Cruz and Kevin O’Hearn, senior managing directors; Steve Simonelli and Michael Oliver, senior directors; and J.B. Bruno, director.
“The investment opportunity was appealing to both domestic and offshore capital, given the credit and term remaining, which provides a predictable cash flow for the buyer,” Cruz said in a prepared statement. “We are pleased to see more overseas equity pursue commercial real estate transactions in the state of New Jersey.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. KABR, which bought the then-distressed property in 2009, will continue to manage the property for AIM, it noted.
“KABR is proud to have partnered with Samsung during the past 11 years, and excited for the continued collaboration with new owners — AIM — in their first U.S. acquisition,” KABR Chairman and CEO Kenneth Pasternak said in a statement.
Samsung has about 950 employees at the site, and affiliated companies have several hundred employees in neighboring buildings on Challenger Road, KABR said. Overpeck Corporate Center, which has about 1 million square feet of space, is 97% occupied by companies that total more than 3,500 employees on site.
