Mack-Cali Realty buys Iselin office complex, sells 56-building portfolio

Jersey City-based real estate investment trust Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, which in recent years has shaken up its leadership and embarked on a new investment strategy, is the new owner of a 271,988-square-foot office complex at 99 Wood Avenue South in Iselin, near the Metropark train station in Middlesex County. Cushman & Wakefield’s Andrew Merin, H. Gary Gabriel, David Bernhaut, Kyle Schmidt and Kubby Tischler brokered the deal for the Class A office tower, said a statement from the real estate services firm. New Jersey Business noted that the building had been owned since 2014 by Boston-based private equity firm TA Associates. The acquisition by Mack-Cali, which already owns a neighboring Iselin office property, came after the company sold a three-story, 88,910-square-foot office building at 201 Littleton Road in Morris Plains to Chopp Holdings for an undisclosed sum, as noted by GlobeSt. Mack-Cali also announced on Monday its sale of a 56-building office/flex portfolio to an affiliate of the Robert Martin Company for the aggregate sum of $487.5 million. GlobeSt reported that the latter move by Mack-Cali is part of an ongoing effort by the REIT to divest itself of properties that are either not prime office locations near the New Jersey waterfront or multifamily residential. The outlet noted that the properties being sold by Mack-Cali to Robert Martin’s RMC Acquisition Entity are in Westchester County. Mack-Cali will use a portion of the proceeds from the sale to pay down $230 million in unsecured debt. [NJBiz]