JLL on Monday said it was named the exclusive leasing agent for the Class A office building at 170 Wood Ave., a fully vacant, 239,452-square-foot, eight-story property in the Metropark corporate campus in Iselin.
170 Wood Ave. is the only Class A building in the Metropark submarket with space available greater than 100,000 square feet. Developed in 2003, the headquarters-quality trophy asset was designed by the Hillier Group and constructed by the Siemens Corp. to be part of its New Jersey campus. In 2012, Siemens executed a 10-year sale leaseback for the building with Boston-based TA Associates Realty. Siemens subsequently vacated at the end of its lease term. An affiliate of Argent Ventures acquired the asset at year-end 2023.
Founded in 1997, Argent Ventures is a real estate investment and development firm headquartered in New York City that specializes in opportunistic, value-add and core-plus transactions throughout the U.S. The new owner has retained international design firm Ware Malcomb to outline potential upgrades to the common areas and amenity spaces while it invites interest in 170 Wood Ave.
“170 Wood Ave. is a distinctive Class A property located within New Jersey’s most centrally located corporate campus,” Joseph Chehova, Argent’s acquisitions & asset management team member said. “Built to the exacting specifications of a global conglomerate, it features exceptional construction and highly efficient design that can be customized to meet a variety of needs. We are excited to partner with JLL to reintroduce the property in a prime submarket that continues to appeal to globally recognized tenants.”
JLL Senior Managing Director John Buckley and associate Alex Crane are leading the marketing campaign for 170 Wood Ave., which features efficient, 30,000-square-foot floor plates, 9-foot finished ceiling heights and a robust amenities package that includes a cafeteria, conference and training facilities, 24/7 security, four-level parking garage and common outdoor space.
According to Buckley, the building offers a blank canvas for corporate users seeking a large headquarters presence in a prime location, or it could be converted to meet the needs of the life science, medtech and biomanufacturing sectors that dominate the New Jersey market.
“Argent Ventures has embraced the first-mover advantage to purchase a best-in-class office asset in a prime corporate corridor where multiple new development initiatives are driving economic growth and world class transportation,” Buckley said. “As the only Class A building in the submarket with space available greater than 100,000 square feet, we anticipate a great deal of interest from companies seeking superior workspace in a prime location populated by a highly skilled workforce.”
Part of a roughly 19-acre site that once housed thousands of Siemens Corp. workers, Metropark has been revitalized as multitenant campus with a roster of high-profile and Fortune 500 tenants that includes IBM, Microsoft, EY, Wells Fargo and BASF. The county is also home to Hackensack Meridian Health-JFK Medical Center and the academic medical center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
The campus is situated 30 minutes from New York City and 20 minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport, offers direct access to the Garden State Parkway and is minutes from routes 1 and 9, Interstate 287 and the New Jersey Turnpike.
A LEED Gold certified property with Energy Star Certification, 170 Wood Ave. is steps from the Metropark Train Station and direct links to New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. The state of New Jersey recently approved a plan for a transit-oriented development on an unused 12-acre parking lot at the station that will include some 250 apartments, 250,000 square feet of office space, ground floor retail as well as bicycle, pedestrian and infrastructure upgrades.
