From CoStar:
As Former Toys R Us Campus Awaits New Use, New Jersey Embarks on Transforming the American Office Park
The future of the former Toys R Us corporate headquarters is still to be determined in New Jersey, a state that’s been ground zero nationally for the redevelopment of such large, isolated and what some call outdated suburban workplace campuses. But when its fate is decided, the outcome could help write the next chapter for America’s office parks.
For years, before its bankruptcy and liquidation in 2018, retailer Toys R Us occupied a 193-acre property in Wayne, a bucolic site on the waterfront of a reservoir. The campus was anchored by two connected office buildings totaling about 621,000 square feet at 1 Geoffrey Way. The property was sold in 2019 for $19 million and now sits mostly vacant.
A consulting firm, BRS of Medford Lakes, New Jersey, presented a market study on Thursday it did on the area where the campus is located, detailing its demographics and vacancy rates for different property categories. After months conducting that research and receiving input from residents, BRS said it will release its final report with recommendations for the best ways to repurpose the Toys R Us buildings, transitioning them to mixed use, by the end of the month. Those possible options include research and development space, shops, restaurants, and a performance hall.
“Based on our surveys … a lot of people have said that in addition to use for recreation bringing them to the site, there was a lot of interest in entertainment activities and dining and children’s activities, as well as festivals and shopping,” Alisa Goren, a BRS planner, said during the presentation. “So it looks like a lot of things that would bring you to the site are also things that would be appropriate and attractive to the market as a whole.”
The process playing out in New Jersey is part of a commercial real estate discussion taking part across the country. The national challenge of finding ways to repurpose and revitalize office properties isn’t going to go away, as even more companies rethink their workplace needs because of the pandemic and the work-from-home trend it accelerated. That’s led to some firms downsizing their footprints.
The former home of Toys R Us isn’t the first large corporate campus to be reimagined in the Garden State. New Jersey has seen more than its fair share of the redevelopment of former one-tenant suburban office complexes, dubbed “stranded assets,” some of which had been vacant for years. That’s because during roughly the past decade a number of companies exited their headquarters in the Garden State in the wake of mergers and acquisitions, belt-tightening, an effort to escape New Jersey’s high taxes, or in strategic moves. The repurposing of some of those sites is complete, offering a model for developers in other parts of the nation.
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On a sad note today…Brother Of Marine Killed In Botched Afghan Pullout Commits Suicide At 1-Year Memorial Service.. There MUST be accountability for this continued carnage….when will Biden take responsibly for this …..
Why don’t they just admit that the only reinvention of these corporate parks is condos/townhouses. Tax dollars!! Blue states love pilfering tax dollars! Mixed use is a bunch of bullshit. Muppets order shit from their couch by touching a screen, they don’t walk to shops so that’s out. Research and development? Lol. People are m0rons, we teach touchy, feely gender emotional awareness in our schools, not hardcore math and science. And how many more restaurants do you want? There’s some overpriced eatery everywhere you turn, 9 of 10 restaurants fail. Level the buildings and make it a park. Where’s the green earth warriors? Why aren’t they proposing this? Oh yes, tax revenue is more important than the “climate” is it not my fair-feathered friends?
Eddie,
Morning meds didn’t kick in yet?
Drop the mic.
Don’t forget that affordable housing is more important to the green earth warriors. Knock that forest down in the name of affordable housing. Yet, they will attack a corporation for not being green. F’ing hypocrites. Human beings are simply selfish, anyone saying otherwise is blind.
“Level the buildings and make it a park. Where’s the green earth warriors? Why aren’t they proposing this? Oh yes, tax revenue is more important than the “climate” is it not my fair-feathered friends?”
620,000 square feet. How many buses of abbot’s undocumented travelers can comfortably fit in that space?
42, interestingly enough.
At 250 square feet per person, that is about 2,480 people. At 58-60 per bus load, about 42 buses.
Apartments/Condos, especially rentals going up everywhere in Bergen Co, there must be 15 or 30 building projects in Hackensack alone. 2 more in Oradell, one started one coming soon. Multiple projects in Paramus, and Park Ridge s project recently finished. Many of the locations are busy streets, former retail areas. People may not like these apartment developments, but what else is going to go into these spots? Bergen is like a city a city now, with some suburban like spots left, but that’s the reality.
What recession?
“Empire State Manufacturing Index declined 42 pts to -31.3.
New orders & shipments plunged.
No expectations of improvement in next 6 mo.
Manufacturing activity declined significantly in NY.”
It’s got a heliport – should slice it up for mansions – overlooking the reservoir is absolutely gorgeous property. God damn Bald Eagles flying up in there. Toy Execs used to get helicoptered in from Teterboro – because thats how Geoffrey rolled with the ballers.
Rename that section of town Franklin Lakes Superior just to f*ck with the folks down the other side of the hill.
Turn them into BoomerCubes.
Mixed use perfect, then Boomer won’t have to drive blind anymore. Put in a Medicare certified health center for one stop shopping.
Boomers avoid taxes so much they take swaths of land out in the boonies to make 55 and over communities that later, when they are blind as a bat, still have to travel to make it to the nearest ACME with the best coupons. They build these thinks pre-emptively to lower their tax rates while in a non-boomer house to prepare for a cheaper upcoming retirement.
3b,
Apartments/Condos, especially rentals going up everywhere in Bergen Co…
I’m wondering what’s more prolific, the number of apartments and condos being built or the onslaught of those spotted lantern bugs. Just as I walked away to get some coffee, I picked up a newspaper and one of the headlines stated that Montvale plans to buy 24 acres of land and turn it into condos and affordable housing. What a congested shithole this area is becoming.
Fast: From what I understand most of the developments are rentals, although I imagine Montvale will be mostly condos. I am told rentals are easier to get bank financing, and just less headaches for developers all around. My wife works in Montvale, says condos going up everywhere. Lots of vacant office land up there ripe for condos. Those lantern bugs are everywhere, and they are ugly too.
In further news, Cuck Schumer is asking D.C. for $22,000,000 to do a “study” to combat the spotted lantern bug invasion. Lol. What balls these dems have… filtering muppet tax dollars into their campaign coiffures. The dems have carte blanche with the media henchmen at their service. Everybody gets paid and everyone stays in line or you get whacked or at least, get raided and have documents seized.
Rename that section of town Franklin Lakes Superior just to f*ck with the folks down the other side of the hill.
“La Grande Virage Estates at Franklin Lakes.” Prices start at $1.2 million. Gotta have that Bergen County flavor to it.
Progressives are now proposing that we change the name of Monkey Pox to some generic code name because Monkey Pox is deemed rac1st. Isn’t Chicken Pox rac1st against something or somebody? lol. This is from the same crowd that eats Tide pods, believes Trump buried docs with Ivana and that men can have babies. I’m almost tempted to vote straight democrat in the midterms and presidential because I think our ongoing demise of a country is wildly entertaining.
Everyone complaining about the Boomers, yet come November, people here will pick their respective sides and vote for more Boomers. Stay home.
So – the terrace building – the building opposite the huge building overlooking the lake, it’s a real architectural gem. It’s a beautiful midcentury style building, build into the side of the hill. It’s incredibly unassuming when you walk up to it, you don’t realize that it’s as large as it is, and that it extends down the hill in a very organic fashion, with a bunch of terraced outdoor spaces overlooking the woods. While the lakefront building is a modern style office building, terrace is something that’s far similar to “Bell Works”. This is the only building on the property worth keeping. There are not very many similar office buildings in NJ. They weren’t built like this. Keep in mind, this building was built in the 60s by (chemical powerhouse at the time) American Cyanamid, at basically the peak of their profitability.
Toys R Us was the first “reuse” of this property.
Also keep in mind, there is an entire Toys R Us demo store that was build on that property near the parking garage. It was built as a workplace for retail staging/design, technology pilots, etc. A whole god damned store that no shopper ever stepped foot in.
Fun anecdote.
The world’s kitchens and baths owe a great debt to Wayne, NJ and American Cyanamid.
Formica brand, was headquartered in Wayne, and was ultimately acquired by Cyanamid in the mid 50s.
The unmistakable Skylark (aka Boomerang) style was released in the early 50s.
Those formica people should sue Nike for stealing their swoosh in the skylark pattern.
Dents,
Go and F yourself. Are you a vet or just like your treason orange boy, W, Clinton and assorted boomer p*ss*s.
A few pointers.
The volunteer armed forces are made of the poor of the country. Many are coming from foster care and horrible family situations. There is no family to lean back on. See the movie ” Born of the 4th of July” – the guy got crippled but had a loving family to support him at the start of new challenged life.
Here is a fact for you. Clinton’s changes to welfare plus AIDS increase foster care kids dramatically by the end of the 90’s. Those kids aged out and were given a few hundred dollars State check and they were on their own and recommended to join the military, which still is the #1 way of ladder to move people out of poverty.
Those kids were sent to Iraq/Afghanistan. Of course the jerk GOP like Ryans made the benefit packages to remain in the military crappier. Over 30% of military families receive food stamps.
In Vietnam, you got drafted for 2 years. 3 months of basic training + 11 months in Vietnam and you came back to base to mellow out for the remaining months. Many of W’s mess were part of the National Guard or Reserves, so 2 weeks in base after assignment and they were discharged with no more paycheck and limited benefits for themselves and families for a few months.
You want to talk tough. Well donate to the Army Relief Fund. Send your kid into Uniformed Services.
I have come to believe that we need the draft again, it will helps with:
1)Economic disparety. The entrance test is an IQ test in disguise and will open doors fit to your capacity. But those doors are ramps to better economic opportunity. Just the fact that they have a military security clearance opens up door to good jobs in the civilian sector that require a security clearance.
2)Reduces societal mental illness. A lot of organic mental illness comes alive in the late teens years. The military has developed a great system to identify and remove the mentally ill and sent to the VA for benefits and healthcare.
3)It quiets p*ss*es morons like you.
The fact is that a lot of today’s societal noise comes from – Poor (see #1) -Mentally ill (see #2) – P*ssi*s boomers that escape or wiggle themselves from the draft like all boomer presidents we have had so far. (see #3)
What NJ makes, the entire country takes… er took.
https://www.formica.com/en-us/-/media/formica/north-america/article-images/our-products/patterns-from-skylark-to-watercolors/17687043-1-920×600.jpg?rev=783928afd2db4ff3bea2c74148d966d1&h=600&w=920&la=en-US&hash=0AE8B82B09CC91536728A57955CEE6E8
Fat Mary was OK looking when she was younger. Too many Marlboros I guess…
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
The Feds.
Sad dents but pretty moronic statement…really especially since Biden will have lowest amount of soldiers killed, less than Dumpy who had 44 die as he never pulled out. I guess that is ok in your view
I am currently in the student center of UCSD. Cali, really does it right. Santa Barbara is next, but the psych program here is supposed to be superior. I forgot how amazing the weather is here. The morning marine layer just burnt off, like it always does. Off to In-And-Out for lunch.
Ex, that multi-family in Atlantic City could be a heck of a deal. That area is gentrifying like Asbury Park, and the pace is accelerating. Besides the microbrews (Seed, Tennessee Ave. Brew Pub), you have new coffee shops, lots of new hipster apartments the Lucky Snake and now the worlds largest Water Park is about to be built. AC is in comeback mode.
Paid for a Corolla, got a Mustang GT. It’s good not to rent at the airport. And much cheaper too, even with the Uber to La Jolla.
UCSD has VS Ramachandran in their Psych department, and I think he’s a cool cat – so pick that.
Heard the psych department was one of the best in the country.
Lib,
At $6 gas, not the best pick-up. Same sh*t for me. Rented in Valencia as much cheaper than Burbank. I asked for Kia Soul and got Mazda CX9. Guzzled it down. Added $150 to my trip costs..easy.
Long day today! Up at 5:00 – loaded the wagon – damn outback’s hold a ton.
Made the run up the Central Valley to San Jose.
Impressive town. Gorgeous architecture, legit downtown, and a ton of marquis firms
most places would kill to have on their roster. All of that and the heat is on this weeks even in NorCal. Temps are high. Empty nester now. Just me and that woman I met on a blind date in 1993. New pool guys start Wednesday.