The redevelopment of pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche’s former North Jersey campus racked up two more achievements last year, with the arrival of a tenant at its landmark high-rise office building and the sale of the property for $131.7 million.
Prism Capital Partners acquired the 116-acre site, which spans Nutley and Clifton, in 2016 and since then has transformed the property into a case study on how to reposition a single-tenant property into a mixed-use hub with a focus on life sciences and biotech firms. The ambitious reimagining of the one-time North American headquarters of Hoffmann-La Roche, called ON3, has earned it the 2023 CoStar Impact Award for best redevelopment in Northern New Jersey, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market
Last year Japanese drug maker Eisai took occupancy of 200 Metro Blvd., an office tower that's the flagship of the ON3 campus, for its North American headquarters. That 330,000-square-foot lease was the biggest for the state in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. In spring last year, institutional investor Cantor Fitzgerald acquired that building for $131.7 million, another coup for Prism Capital.
Eisai joined a tenant roster that Prism Capital brought to ON3 that includes a new medical school, a medical diagnostics testing firm and research and development tenancy.
Prism Capital, which is looking to bring retail and housing to ON3, has not only started construction of an ambulatory care center for Hackensack Meridian Health but expects to kick off work on a dual-branded Marriott AC/Element Hotel with a rooftop bar.
About the project: When Eisai moved in, it lifted ON3’s 1.45 million square feet of existing office and research and development space to 100% occupancy, with more than 5,500 people employed by ON3 tenants.
What the judges said: “Prism has done a great job transforming this former HQ site into a trophy showplace,” said Andrew Moss, director of leasing and acquisitions at Forsgate Industrial Partners.
They made it happen: Edwin Cohen and Eugene Diaz, principal partners of Prism Capital.