Bergen office building sells for 19% increase despite soft suburban demand

An office building in the affluent suburb of Woodcliff Lake sold this week for $9.8 million — a nearly 19% increase over what it sold for 10 years ago — potentially bucking the trend of companies giving up suburban office space for more urban parts of the country.

Real estate services firm CBRE, which oversaw the sale of the property at 470 Chestnut Ridge Road, touted the site’s proximity to a nearby Whole Foods store, as well as building upgrades in the lobby and common area.

The property and its 53,730-square-foot building are leased entirely to engineering and construction firm Kiewit for its regional Northeast headquarters. Kiewit did not respond to several emails on Tuesday seeking comment.

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The property was sold to an investment firm based in Monsey, New York, said a spokesperson for CBRE, who did not disclose the buyer.

In 2014, the building sold for $8.25 million to Keystone Property Group, which is based in Morristown with a Pennsylvania headquarters, Keystone’s website says. Keystone just sold it for $9.8 million.

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“470 Chestnut’s location in one of New Jersey’s premier towns coupled with Kiewit’s recent upgrades to the lobby, common areas and building systems made this an attractive opportunity for the buyer,” CBRE Vice Chairman Jeff Bunne said in a statement.

Less suburban office space with work-from-home, shift to urban centers

Suburban office complexes and suburban-based corporate headquarters have become less common amid work-from-home trends coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, more businesses have been flocking to urban centers like Hoboken and Jersey City, which sit across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

That's a reversal of the 1980s, when companies fled cities for suburban areas, including stretches of Bergen County and the Interstates 80 and 287 corridors in Morris County.

But the recent past has seen accounting giant Deloitte and drugmaker Sanofi moving into smaller office space in Morristown, the largest city in Morris County, along with the Valley National bank headquarters, in what’s known as the M Station project.

Consumer goods company Unilever is moving out of Englewood Cliffs to Hoboken next year. BMW — which has its North America headquarters in Woodcliff Lake — is shrinking its campus there by 20 acres.

And former office complexes across North Jersey are being converted into warehouses or a combination of housing and retail.

Still, some corporate headquarters are sticking it out in suburban offices. Electronics giant Samsung will move its North American headquarters from Ridgefield Park, off the New Jersey Turnpike, to Englewood Cliffs next summer.

Party City based its headquarters in Woodcliff Lake since a tax break announcement with the state in 2021. Financial technology company Fiserv recently moved 2,000 employees to a headquarters in Berkeley Heights.

And earlier this year, the maker of Tylenol, Listerine, Neutrogena, Band-Aids and Benadryl announced plans for a global headquarters in suburban New Jersey with over 3,000 scientists and other employees over the next few years.

Kenvue — a Johnson & Johnson spinoff — is moving its Neutrogena employees from California to Summit in 2025. It will occupy a sprawling 290,000-square-foot headquarters and research and development facility on a 46-acre campus formerly occupied by the pharmaceutical company Celgene.

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.

Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100 and Facebook

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Woodcliff Lake NJ office building sells for $9.8M, 19% increase