WOODBRIDGE, N.J. (September 18, 2006) – In its first foray into the southern New Jersey/Philadelphia area, Bergman Real Estate Group, along with its investment partner, NDC Capital Partners, LLC, recently purchased Colwick Business Center in Cherry Hill, a three-building office park comprising171, 000 square feet of single story office space. Colwick is located at 53, 55, and 57 Haddonfield Road just off the Route 38 interchange by the Cherry Hill Mall and the Garden State Park redevelopment site. The property was acquired from the joint venture between Praedium Group and Endurance Real Estate Group for approximately $22.35 million, with an acquisition loan provided by JP Morgan Chase Bank. This marks the second transaction that Bergman has undertaken with NDC Capital Partners, the previous one being 45 Eisenhower Drive in Paramus, NJ.
333 Meadowland Parkway represents the second acquisition this year between these two family-owned companies. Bergman and Edison teamed up earlier this year with financial partner NDC Capital Partners to purchase 45 Eisenhower Drive in Paramus, a 175,000 square foot class A office building. “333 was one of the more challenging transactions we’ve done,” described Mr. DiFede, “as we only had 21 days to complete our due diligence and go firm on the deal. This forced us to close without securing typical acquisition financing, which we subsequently obtained from JP Morgan Chase.”
“We’re excited to finally become active in the southern New Jersey market,” explains Michael DiFede, Director of Business Development and Acquisitions for Bergman Real Estate Group. “We see this acquisition as a natural evolution of our expansion within the New Jersey office market, as all of our other buildings are located in the Northern and Central part of the state.” Bergman currently owns and/or manages in excess of 1.5 million square feet in 17 properties, including two buildings in New York. “We felt Colwick Business Center provided an excellent investment opportunity to acquire a well-occupied (80%), quality suburban office complex with a remarkable combination of stable cash flow, creditworthy tenants, staggered lease rollover, and an exceptional location in one of Southern New Jersey’s most desirable business and residential neighborhoods,” adds Mr. DiFede. Colwick enjoys an exceptional location located on Haddonfield Avenue, providing outstanding access to the area’s most frequently traveled highways including, Routes 38, 70, 73, and 130, as well as I-295 and the NJ Turnpike. The property is within one-mile of two major retail centers, including the Cherry Hills Mall, which just announced the addition of Nordstrom’s to replace Strawbridge & Clothier, and the Garden State Race Track Redevelopment project, a ground-breaking 223-acre master-planned redevelopment, which will include 575,000 square feet of upscale retail, 1,519 luxury apartments, condominiums, and town homes, a 150-room hotel, and 74 acres of open space for cultural and recreational use. Some of the national power retail stores already open includes, Wegmans, Home Depot, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Dicks Sporting Goods, and The Cheesecake Factory, to name few. “Colwick Business Center offers its’ tenants a serene office park environment situated on 17 acres of attractively landscaped grounds,” describes Michael Bergman, President and CEO of Bergman Real Estate Group. The previous ownership maintained Colwick extraordinarily well, and recently made significant capital improvements to the property, including replacing the roofs, HVAC upgrades and resurfacing of all the parking areas. “Also beneficial to tenants is that they have full, independent control of their heating and air conditioning system at all times, 24/7. In addition, there are no common areas in any of the three buildings, which means tenants benefit from having true usable/rentable measurements (ie. no common area add-on-factor used to gross up usable area to rentable square feet),” explains Mr. Bergman. These features, coupled with the property’s strategic location, has enabled it to attract several quality tenants, including ACE American Insurance, Thomson Scientific, Philadelphia Newspapers, and the Internal Revenue Service.
About Bergman Real Estate Group
Bergman Real Estate Group is a privately owned family business, located in Iselin, New Jersey, that has earned a solid reputation as a leader in the acquisition, ownership, management, leasing, and financing of commercial office properties throughout the New Jersey marketplace. Since its formation in 1988 by Jerome Bergman, and sons Steven and Michael, the company has successfully acquired over 26 commercial properties with a combined market value in excess of $300 million. Including its most recent purchase of the Colwick Business Center, Bergman’s current New Jersey office portfolio of owned properties consists of over 1.3 million.
