It’ll sit empty for decades…

From the Record:

Toys R Us collapse creates large corporate office vacancy in Wayne

The collapse of Toys R Us has placed a big question mark on a large tract of forested woodland in the heart of Wayne.

Toys R Us is preparing to leave its corporate headquarters, which sits in the middle of nearly 200 acres of largely open space in a triangle bordered by Berdan Avenue, Hamburg Turnpike, and the Point View Reservoir.

The land has been a secluded corporate office campus since the 1960s, first as the headquarters of chemical conglomerate American Cyanamid. It has been the home of America’s iconic toy retailer since 2003. The road leading into the compound is Geoffrey Way, named after the giraffe mascot of Toys R Us.

It is a throwback to an era when corporations sought secluded, park-like suburban settings for their office complexes. It is going on the market at a time when demand for office campuses with a single corporate tenant has all but vanished. As a result, Wayne public officials and residents could see big changes proposed for Geoffrey Way.

Real estate experts and developers say this could be rare chance for Wayne to make decisions that could bring valuable benefits to the township.

But to do that, they say, the community may have to accept another use for the land.

“It’s an opportunity to create something that could be iconically transformational,” for Wayne, said Kenneth Pasternak, a founder and executive chairman of The KABR Group, a private equity real estate firm based in Ridgefield Park. “The challenge for Wayne is to be open-minded about that,” he said.

Possible uses for the site, according to local commercial real estate experts, could include apartments that would allow young professionals to move to Wayne, and allow retirees to remain in the township after selling their homes. Assisted living housing or a corporate office park with space for multiple tenants are other possibilities. Non-office uses, however, would require a zoning change.

This entry was posted in Economics, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics. Bookmark the permalink.

100 Responses to It’ll sit empty for decades…

  1. dentssdunnigan says:

    The big takeaway from this article is that President Trump wins again!

  2. Hold my beer says:

    They should make it a zoo to rival turtle back zoo.

    Or make it a place to re-enact medieval battles and people can wear homemade armor and bash each other with nerf swords and arrows.

  3. Hold my beer says:

    I guess property taxes in Wayne will be going up because of this too.

  4. Juice Box says:

    Perfect spot for some affordable housing, 200 Acres of Townhouses, they’ll have an acre of farm to table and an acre for a kids water park.

  5. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Not in my backyard!

    “Possible uses for the site, according to local commercial real estate experts, could include apartments that would allow young professionals to move to Wayne, and allow retirees to remain in the township after selling their homes. Assisted living housing or a corporate office park with space for multiple tenants are other possibilities. Non-office uses, however, would require a zoning change.“

  6. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Leave it alone and buy it out with green acres.

    Any rise in population will lead to a paid fire department as opposed to the current volunteer system in place. Enough with the got damn apartments. Developers are so crooked. Only want to build apartments as opposed to affordable single family homes….I wonder why? Line them up and shoot them.

  7. Hold my beer says:

    Mixed use developments. A park or small zoo, and lots of 5 story buildings. The ground floor for retail and offices, the upper 4 stories for condos or apartments.

  8. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Want apartments? Then build a town center at the Wayne hills mall location with apartments above retail or build apartments by willow brook mall area. Don’t take prestine land in a great location and turn it into sh!t apartments. Hell no!

  9. Hold my beer says:

    A medieval castle would work. They could have renaissance fairs and jousting tournaments.

    It already has office buildings and parking lots, how pristine can it be?

  10. Hold my beer says:

    An amusement park would be nice. It could be called wayne’s World.

  11. grim says:

    250 $1,000,000+ homes in an exclusive gated community.

  12. grim says:

    It already has office buildings and parking lots, how pristine can it be?

    It’s fairly pristine, it’s actually a beautiful campus.

    The smaller terrace building is built into the side of the hill and would actually make for a very cool mid-centuryesque office space. From street level, it looks fairly small. The larger building has beautiful views of the lake.

    The parking lot area is relatively small in comparison to the full lot.

    Regarding pristine or not pristine, they have bald eagles on the property.

    Oh, they have an approved helipad, which actually gets used.

    It’s easily one of the most beautiful pieces of available property in Northern NJ right now.

  13. grim says:

    However, the fact that it is not near any major highway pretty much means the only real use is going to be high end residential. Mixed-use affordable? It’s fairly inconvenient to transportation, I don’t see that happening.

  14. Fast Eddie says:

    Mixed-use affordable?

    Oh Great. Modern day tenements.

  15. Hold my beer says:

    Parks, a zoo, mixed use buildings plus bike paths for all. It will become a hipster utopia.

  16. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    “Approximately 4,500 sit in the RAC and listen to Secretary Clinton. Hillary Clinton speaks at the Rutgers Athletic Center Thursday afternoon.”

    I’ve been to games where there were over 11,000 and that’s without seating on the floor.

    I’m not one to point out my schlong is bigger than yours or care if Trumps inauguration was bigger than Obama’s because that really means nothing. But the fact that HRC can’t even half fill the RAC before a progressive campus on a Thursday afternoon is ridiculous. Hang it up Hillary. You’re a loser and will continue to hurt your party the more you show your puffy face.

  17. Grim says:

    Rutgers paid Snooki more.

  18. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    In case you are curious, there are 57K students and over 15K staff at Rutgers New Brunswick.

  19. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Man is the party clueless.

  20. Hold my beer says:

    Snooki adds value to society. HRC does not

  21. grim says:

    If she can’t sell favors anymore, why should she think she can demand a high fee?

    Did she really mistake her political influence for popularity?

  22. Fast Eddie says:

    HRC represents her party very well: angry, irrational and entitled.

  23. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I worked in a similar waterfront campus, HQ of United Water company in Bergen County (Harrington Park). They’ve recently moved their HQ to Paramus and the old location is being re-purposed as a retirement community. They’re tearing down the existing building.

    The hilarious part about our “pristine” campus was that they allowed smoking everywhere! It was only recently before I started a project there that they disallowed people from smoking in cubicles, but when I was there in the late 90’s they still allowed smoking in private offices.

  24. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    In mod? Haven’t been there in a while.

  25. 3b says:

    They will build apartments in Wayne lots of them.

  26. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I worked in a similar waterfront campus, HQ of United Water company in Bergen County (Harrington Park). They’ve recently moved their HQ to Paramus and the old location is being re-purposed as a retirement community. They’re tearing down the existing building.

  27. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I worked in a similar waterfront campus, Headquarters of United Water company in Bergen County (Harrington Park). They’ve recently moved their Headquarters to Paramus and the old location is being re-purposed as a retirement community. They’re tearing down the existing building.

  28. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    United Water in Harrington Park. They moved to Paramus and are a retirement community is being built in it’s place.

  29. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    United Water in Bergen County, waterfront campus. They moved to Paramus and a retirement community is being built in it’s place.

  30. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Harrington Park

  31. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Wow! There is a town in Bergen County that begins with an H and ends in Park! Sends you straight to mod!

  32. leftwing says:

    “250 $1,000,000+ homes in an exclusive gated community.”

    Keep dreaming.

    Has Wayne settled its COAH with the Courts?

    If not, you’re on the fast track to developments with COAH set aside. Any zoning change involving COAH is effectively waved through unopposed. There will be hearings, debate, etc, etc, but like the local cell tower, if it’s proposed, it’s going in. Foregone conclusion.

    Developers will be lined up around the block for a master plan/zoning wave through.

  33. leftwing says:

    “Did she really mistake her political influence for popularity?”

    Or intellect, or insight, or respect, or affection, or loyalty, or empathy………

  34. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Leave it alone and buy it out with green acres.

    Any rise in population will lead to a paid fire department as opposed to the current volunteer system in place. Enough with the got damn apartments. Developers are so crooked. Only want to build apartments as opposed to affordable single family homes….I wonder why? Line them up and shoot them.

    lol, isn’t paying taxes to pay firefighters a 100k salary a benefit to the economy?

  35. leftwing says:

    “Wayne must create 2,271 new affordable-housing units, including the rehabilitation of several existing units, according to master plan documents from 2008 under round three of COAH regulations….In the township’s proposed affordable housing plan documents, in order to meet quotas, Wayne proposed a 185-unit 100 percent affordable-housing development on Route 23 near West Belt, referred to as the “Wayne Transit Zone..”

    Pretty wide bid/asked.

    5000 apartment units, half market and half COAH, would fit perfectly there.

  36. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I can’t believe th sh!t she says off the top of her head. It’s as if she thinks a well-formed sentence is automatically to be taken as believable. She might be the original pumpkin.

  37. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Harrington

  38. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    What I find laughable was that people thought that her $250k fees were not based on an understanding of future favorable legislation and/or favorable contracts. Her brazen collection of hundreds of millions of dollars prior to an election was the most open corruption I’ve ever witnessed in the history of US politics.

  39. 3b says:

    Blue that’s for other towns. However when it affects one directly than all of a sudden its different. Just like people I know who proudly say they are liberal until low income housing is built in their towns.

  40. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    LOL. You can’t even use the first word of that Bergen County town by itself. Let’s give pigeon English a try.

    Hallington Park

  41. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    BRT – I have a strong feeling that she knows where so many bodies are buried … and mistook that for her free pass. I think she is still trying to collect. I would have been completely checked out of any chance that American election results can actually reflect the will of the people… until Scott Brown happened. If ever an election was going to be fixed, it would have been that one.

  42. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    LOL. That’s like “Tax the Rich!!”…wait, wait, don’t tax them in my state! “Our cost of living is too high!”

    Blue that’s for other towns. However when it affects one directly than all of a sudden its different. Just like people I know who proudly say they are liberal until low income housing is built in their towns.

  43. Hold my beer says:

    Maybe that campus could be split into a new state college plus a retail/apartments with some land reserved for a park

  44. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Maybe a pumpkin patch and corn maze?

  45. 3b says:

    Ex exactly that’s why those I know who proudly scream they are liberals turn out to be the biggest hypocrites if their liberalism will negatively impact their finances.

  46. Hold my beer says:

    I like pumpkin patches and corn maizes. Nothing like going through a maze before sitting on a trailer being towed by a tractor, than climbing down and picking your own pumpkin.

  47. Hold my beer says:

    BRT

    I would think paid firefighters is a prestigious thing and would only enhance property values.

  48. Hold my beer says:

    3b

    I like the libs who brag about their wild caught salmon dinners and complain about fishing.

  49. nwnj says:

    Try this again…

    Mount Olive also has the distribution center. Town got hammered a while back when basf moved back to the inner burbs. Highest tax rate in the county.

    Lots of folks nearby who will not have the same job prospects. Hopefully they can find a new tenant.

  50. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    If you build 2,500 COAH apartments in one location anywhere in North Jersey, the medicare fraudsters (Jews) will come.

  51. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Speaking of the Lakewood case. I’ve done some more digging. Let’s just say, amnesty wasn’t provided because Degnan has any love for the Jews. But he does see the power in the Jewish voting block that he just bought. Hey, it’s his political future he’s dealing with.

  52. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Sadly, no more Greasy Tony’s though.

    In case you are curious, there are 57K students and over 15K staff at Rutgers New Brunswick.

  53. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/10/glimpse_of_history_no_charge_for_extra_grease_in_n.html

    In 1977, maybe ’78 too, they were in an even smaller place across the street.

  54. nwnj says:

    Yeah, and if you don’t want to see your town(country) turned into a human dumpster you’re a racist according to fake news and progressives.

  55. SorryToLeave says:

    It’ll be an assisted living community. You heard it here first.

  56. grim says:

    They are going to want too much for the property for it to be assisted living. There is already a new 150 unit assisted living facility going up on Hamburg Tpke just around the corner from the back entrance to the TRU property.

  57. Hold my beer says:

    Make it a gun and fishing club for the 1%ers

  58. grim says:

    The Toll Brothers development on High Mountain Golf Club in Franklin Lakes is a good template. 130 acres = 275 units. Some affordable but the balance of the townhomes starting at $800k and the SFH starting at $1.3m.

    They could easily increase the number of units and reduce the price slightly, and likely attract a significant amount of sales volume, as Franklin Lakes is literally just over the hill.

    The lakefront units could probably be priced $2-3m+ and be very, very easily sold. The lake views are pretty incredible.

  59. 3b says:

    Grim Wayne will never have the cachet of Franklin Lakes. It’s like comparing Paramus to Franklin Lakes.

  60. Fast Eddie says:

    Whatever they do with that property and for all others like it in this State, I’m all for making it high-priced and high-taxed, justified or not; anything to impede the invasion of the riff-raff.

  61. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Yes, it’s like magical fairy dust. Take someone living in poverty and place them in an affluent area and…..bam! Problem solved! Affordable housing idea is genius.

    “What it does is, it breaks generations of cycles of poverty,” Dobson said. “It changes the whole history of a family who at one time had very little opportunity to live in a safe neighborhood and get an education.”

    https://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/njs-affordable-housing-crisis-towns-meeting-demand/

  62. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Affordable housing is the answer to poverty. Brilliant!

    Do these people realize what capitalism is? It’s a competition you bastards. Everyone can’t be a winner. Someone has to be poor and sticking these poor people next to the rich solves absolutely nothing unless you are willing to give them a high paying job out of empathy.

  63. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Amen!

    That’s my motivation for working so hard…, so I don’t have to live with the riff-raff. What is wrong with being honest about this. Why do people have a problem with people not wanting to live next door to people that don’t share the same philosophy when it comes to lifestyle habits and taking care of your neighborhood?

    Fast Eddie says:
    March 30, 2018 at 12:48 pm
    Whatever they do with that property and for all others like it in this State, I’m all for making it high-priced and high-taxed, justified or not; anything to impede the invasion of the riff-raff.

  64. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That part of Wayne might not be franklin lakes, but it’s pretty damn high end. Don’t kid yourself.

    3b says:
    March 30, 2018 at 12:34 pm
    Grim Wayne will never have the cachet of Franklin Lakes. It’s like comparing Paramus to Franklin Lakes.

  65. nwnj says:

    Any time you hear the term “high end”, you know someone is bullshltting you.

  66. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Sadly, no more Greasy Tony’s though.

    Greasy Tony’s moved to Tucson Arizona. My wife went to U of A and would go there for Jersey style pizza.

  67. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    My apartment building was adjacent to the affordable housing in West Windsor. All it did was bring crime there. The kids were always threatening to jump the landscapers or rob the women going for a walk. They didn’t have their own washer/dryers so the complex had a washer dryer building within it. It was the size of a garage. One day, my wife and I are out on a walk and some woman tries driving through the laundry building to run over her husband. The mentality of these people never changes, even when you put them in a top notch community that values education over everything.

  68. LurksMcGee says:

    I agree Blue Ribbon. Even Tiger’s ex-wife tried to batter him with a nine iron. You should see the community they lived in lol.

  69. Hold my beer says:

    No offense to the readers from Wayne, but Wayne does not have the snob appeal of Franklin lakes, rumson, or milburn.

  70. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    There’s a difference between swinging a 9 iron at your husband’s head and trying to drive a car through a laundromat of people doing laundry.

  71. 3b says:

    Fast the riff raff is coming unfortunately along with the good people that come riff raff comes too. I saw it in my neighborhood in the Bronx. And running to the suburbs is not the answer because they are coming there as well with this affordable housing.

  72. 3b says:

    Wayne will never ever be Franklin lakes period.

  73. 3b says:

    By the way I was in Rutherford earlier . It’s a nice little town from what I can see.

  74. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    I should also be noted that living next to affordable housing in a wealthy suburb was actually worse in some ways than living in the ghetto. At least when I lived in the ghetto, someone would come out to whoop the teens asses if they got out of line.

  75. SorryToLeave says:

    That land isn’t as valuable as you think. Most intelligent people are leaving New Jersidiotsville — so the only ones left are the older or less intelligent ones. Less intelligent ones can’t afford to live in Wayne, so that leaves older ones that are too old and scared to leave. Ergo, it will be an old-age home (or whatever they’re called today).

    Then those people vote — and that changes other things for the worse.

    When I sold my house in Wayne I sold it to teacher/cop couple. I still laugh to myself. Damn house — sold it at the bottom of the market — and it isn’t worth much more than I sold it for then. LOLOLOLOL.

    Enjoy your downward spiral in Jersidiotsville. LOLOLOL.

  76. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You are talking about some of the richest towns in America. No one said Wayne as a whole is comparable.

    Wayne is a very very large town with a large population (55,000). It has pockets of high end wealth comparable to Franklin lakes. Put it this way, my neighbor three doors down is a surgeon and I was told he takes home a million a year. So my statement to 3b was to state that there pockets of extreme wealth in Wayne and you are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

    Hold my beer says:
    March 30, 2018 at 3:20 pm
    No offense to the readers from Wayne, but Wayne does not have the snob appeal of Franklin lakes, rumson, or milburn.

  77. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That’s why I recommended it to “hold my beer.”

    3b says:
    March 30, 2018 at 3:43 pm
    By the way I was in Rutherford earlier . It’s a nice little town from what I can see.

  78. The Great Pumpkin says:

    No, it’s actually very valuable. Lots of intelligent people left in jersey. Billionaire and millionaire list is growing.

    SorryToLeave says:
    March 30, 2018 at 4:40 pm
    That land isn’t as valuable as you think. Most intelligent people are leaving New Jersidiotsville — so the only ones left are the older or less intelligent ones. Less intelligent ones can’t afford to live in Wayne, so that leaves older ones that are too old and scared to leave. Ergo, it will be an old-age home (or whatever they’re called today).

  79. 3b says:

    As I said Wayne is not and can never be compared to Franklin Lakes.

  80. 3b says:

    And those with incomes between 100k to 500k are declining a far more important indicator.

  81. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Economy is strong.

    How US GDP could hit 5% this year – Fox News
    https://apple.news/ArN45-OidQPKqHv8ApqlYOg

  82. Ex-Jersey says:

    12:48 too late

  83. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    “My neighbor three doors down is a surgeon”

    The man across the street from me won a Pulitzer. So what?

  84. Jcer says:

    Listen that part of Wayne is nice but it isn’t Bergen County and Franklin Lakes property taxes are SO much lower and the schools are better. Toll or a similar operator could or in big houses but they will get significantly less money than the high mountain project. If anything from a profitability perspective you’re looking at some over 55 and a bunch of town house developments and even some rental apartments. Leftwing is right they can get 4-5k units on that site, ideally with a little affordable as possible for the developer to make a maximum profit, which is what KABR(kushners capital partner) is thinking.

    As for affordable, you can take the ghetto out of the ghetto and move them to Millburn or Scarsdale but it isn’t going to fix anything is the mentality nor should the people paying the bill for everyone now have problems moving into their communities that they need to pay for. When they empty out the projects in jersey city, the crime in the neighborhood the project was in pretty much always plummets and where they relocate the people to a crime wave follows. So you see relatively low crime blue collar neighbors go to pot in short time (this happened in the western slope in jc heights, when they emptied the Duncan projects and Montgomery gardens). Housing policy in this state and country is a city killer.

  85. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Greasy Tony’s.

    Remember that awesome mural at the end of Easton Avenue in front of the J&J headquarters? And the adult movie theaters? Man has that town changed for the better. Nice to see Tumulte’s is still there and most of the old bars.

  86. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:
  87. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Here’s another amazing one. That laundromat is now Thomas Sweets and the building between SYF was demolished to make the patio for SYF.

    This is the New Brunswick where I spent my early childhood.

  88. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:
  89. grim says:

    Listen that part of Wayne is nice but it isn’t Bergen County and Franklin Lakes property taxes are SO much lower and the schools are better. Toll or a similar operator could or in big houses but they will get significantly less money than the high mountain project.

    High mountain was $1.3 to 1.45 million *starting* prices for the models, I said $1m starting here. They would sell it out with a $995-$1.2m range.

  90. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Look at that section of Wayne. What color is it? Pretty exclusive if you ask me. Not too many shades of blue out there in nj or the country.

    https://project.wnyc.org/median-income-nation/#11/40.9796/-74.2422

  91. 3b says:

    Jcer and now the cities can dump the problem on the suburbs.

  92. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Totally agree. It’s a problem of capitalism. Unless you are giving these people high paying jobs (with a low skill set), moving them to a wealthy town will do absolutely nothing to get them out of poverty.

    “As for affordable, you can take the ghetto out of the ghetto and move them to Millburn or Scarsdale but it isn’t going to fix anything is the mentality nor should the people paying the bill for everyone now have problems moving into their communities that they need to pay for. When they empty out the projects in jersey city, the crime in the neighborhood the project was in pretty much always plummets and where they relocate the people to a crime wave follows. So you see relatively low crime blue collar neighbors go to pot in short time (this happened in the western slope in jc heights, when they emptied the Duncan projects and Montgomery gardens). Housing policy in this state and country is a city killer.”

  93. 3b says:

    I am sure it is a lovely area but it’s not Franklin lakes. Multi family is the way it’s going in the suburbs, Grim you have acknowledged that yourself. Will they build some luxury houses there I am sure they will but there is no escaping that a significant amount of that housing will be multi family.

  94. 3b says:

    My neighbor owns 5 diners and probably makes more than the surgeon and the Pulitzer prize winner!

  95. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Example;

    Move a family where father is absent and mother has no skill set from the ghetto to Millburn and they will be just as poor, but this time, they will actually realize how poor they are and become angry and bitter. Beautiful thing!

  96. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    My neighbor 3 doors down just purchased his 2nd shore house. Some people choose to not live in exclusive neighborhoods

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