Columbia Pacific Advisors takes ownership of 2 prime Short Hills office properties

JLL announced Monday that it has been retained by new ownership, Columbia Pacific Advisors, as exclusive leasing agent for two Class A office properties totaling more than 320,000 square feet — 101 and 103 John F. Kennedy Parkway in Short Hills.

101 JFK Parkway is a six-story, 197,196-square-foot building anchored by Franklin Mutual insurance company, Citizens Bank, Citibank, global law firm Dentons and Virtu Financial, which recently signed a long-term renewal for the entire sixth floor of the building.

103 JFK Parkway is a fully vacant, four-story, 123,000-square-foot office building that formerly served as home to financial services company Dun & Bradstreet.

CPA, an alternative investment firm based in Seattle, took ownership of both properties earlier this April. The company has retained a new JLL leasing team to market the properties and engaged full-service design firm Mancini Duffy to prepare designs for upgrades.

“101 and 103 JFK Parkway have a strong legacy as iconic suburban offices, and we have a tremendous opportunity to leverage that past success as the office market in general undergoes tremendous transformation,” Will Nelson of CPA said. “We look forward to working with JLL to reintroduce the properties to tenants seeking aspirational office space in a prime location.”

A JLL team led by Executive Vice President Dan Ligorner, Executive Managing Director Tim Greiner and Vice President Mike Pietrowicz will lead the marketing efforts for both properties, which overlook the Canoe Brook Reservoir just off Route 24 near Interstate 78, the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike.

103 JFK Parkway features a four-story lobby, full-service café, auditorium, garage parking and panoramic views of the reservoir. According to Ligorner, it presents a tremendous opportunity for a single or large tenant to brand the building in a highly visible location directly opposite the Mall at Short Hills, one of the premier shopping destinations in the region.

JLL will soon begin marketing the remaining 34,640 square feet of divisible available space available at 101 JFK Parkway.

“We are excited to share Mancini Duffy’s early renderings, which showcase the opportunity here to customize a prime office property for a single user under well-capitalized new ownership,” Ligorner said. “101 and 103 JFK Parkway are ideally located in a thriving corner of the state where Corporate America lives side-by-side with suburbia, and we look forward to working with ownership and the brokerage community to breathe new life into this established hub.”