A New Jersey office building acquired at a deep discount during the Great Recession sold in the middle of the pandemic — and reportedly for a premium.
The KABR Group, a New Jersey-based private equity real estate firm, announced Tuesday that it sold a 233,000-square-foot building at 85 Challenger Road in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, to Asia Investment Management, which is based in Seoul, South Korea. KABR will continue to manage the building on behalf of the buyer.
The seller declined to disclose the sale price, but a Korean news outlet reported that the transaction was for $59.7 million. The sale has yet to be recorded in Bergen County property records.
The New Jersey County Tax Boards Association estimates the property’s market value at $35.65 million, according to PropertyShark.
The sale was a major achievement for KABR, which purchased the then-vacant building in 2009 for $10.28 million. The seller was AIG Global Investment, which had taken control of the distressed property.
In 2010, KABR leased most of the building to Samsung Electronics America. Since then, the company has remained on as a tenant, eventually expanding to occupy the entire building. It signed a six-year, 233,000-square-foot lease extension about a year ago, according to NorthJersey.com.
JLL’s Jose Cruz, Kevin O’Hearn, Steve Simonelli, Michael Oliver and J.B. Brunmo represented KABR for the sale.
“The investment opportunity was appealing to both domestic and offshore capital given the credit and term remaining which provides a predictable cash flow for the buyer,” Cruz said of the reason for the transaction in the downturn when the number of investment sales has plummeted.
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