PE firm Marcus Partners buys South Plainfield warehouses for $37M

Strong demand in North Jersey industrial market continues to attract investors

Marcus Partners CEO Paul Marcus and 18-20 Harmich Road in South Plainfield, New Jersey (Getty Images, Lee & Associates, Marcus Partners)
Marcus Partners CEO Paul Marcus and 18-20 Harmich Road in South Plainfield, New Jersey (Getty Images, Lee & Associates, Marcus Partners)

Another out-of-state investor is solidifying its piece of North Jersey’s hot industrial market.

Boston-based private equity firm Marcus Partners acquired a two-warehouse, 200,000-square-foot property in South Plainfield for $36.5 million.

The 17-acre site is at 18-20 Harmich Road in the Middlesex County town, close to Interstate 287 and the New Jersey Turnpike and about 23 miles from Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, a major shipping port.

The off-market deal was brokered by Lee & Associates’ Rick Marchisio, Crista Governara and Drew Maffey.

The purchase comes weeks after the private equity firm said it closed a $650 million real estate fund. Its portfolio primarily consists of industrial, life science and multifamily assets in the Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. metro areas.

Marcus Partners’ other New Jersey holdings include a nearly 200,000-square-foot industrial property in Paterson and a similarly sized life sciences building in Rockleigh.

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Across the river in Manhattan, the firm owns a pair of 11-story office buildings at 10 and 12 East 33rd Street in Midtown, which it bought from Dalan Management for $54.5 million in 2018.

The firm also partnered with Crow Holdings last year to break ground on their first multifamily project in New York. The two-building, 450-unit luxury residence in Harrison, Westchester County, is expected to be completed in 2024.

Marcus Partners’ deal comes days after another Boston-based private equity firm, Longpoint Realty Partners, recently bought a 100,000-square-foot industrial property in Clifton, New Jersey, for $18.5 million. That deal was also brokered by Lee & Associates.

Touting close proximity to New York City and access to multiple ports and highways, Northern New Jersey is one of the country’s tightest industrial markets. Vacancies fell to a record-low 2.4 percent in the second quarter, according to Savills, while the average asking rent was up 47 percent over the same period last year.

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