Advance Realty Group Breaks Ground on Planned 1.1 Million-Square-Foot Research Campus at Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, N.J.
“Model for Other U.S. Bases” Through Enhanced Use Leasing ProgramBegins with Initial Development of Approximately 100,000-Square-Foot Office/Lab Building
U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), a member of the House of Representatives appropriations committee, said that Advance Realty Group’s development plan of the U.S. Army’s Picatinny Arsenal under the Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) initiative “just may become a model for other bases.”
That model is now underway as Advance Realty Group, a leading Northeast U.S. owner and developer of Class A office properties, broke ground yesterday on the initial development of the Picatinny Applied Research Campus (PARC), a planned 1.1 million-square-foot development stemming from the EUL agreement between Advance and InSitech, Inc., a partnership intermediary for the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal/Armament Research, Development, Engineering Center (ARDEC).
This ground break is one of the first ones, hence Frelinghuysen’s “model” reference, under the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Use Leasing program for non-excess real property, which gives Department of Defense installations the authority and incentive to obtain a broad range of in-kind consideration in exchange for leasing revenue.
The initial development of the PARC will feature the development of approximately 100,000 square feet of office/lab space within Picatinny’s “downtown” area. Tenant demand has been strong from government contractors at Picatinny, as well as from research universities, communications, electronics, homeland defense/homeland security, and emerging technology companies throughout the United States. Interested tenants are attracted to Picatinny’s $1.5 billion of high technology equipment, over 64 laboratories, and intellectual assets, some of which only exist at the base.
“There is a significant amount of local and national interest in this project due to its tremendous potential for tenants,” said Peter J. Cocoziello, president and CEO of Advance Realty Group. “The trend setting manner in which Picatinny Arsenal is moving forward in conjunction with mission-related private sector firms is unprecedented, and provides innovative means to enhance Picatinny’s mission objectives.”
The overall PARC development plan includes one- to three-story build-to-suit and multi-tenanted buildings with labs, office space and multi-purpose space for high tech, defense and academic tenants and users. The properties will offer Class A office and flex space designed for maximum flexibility in floor plan layouts and tenant fit-outs.
PARC tenants will have access to the amenities of Picatinny Arsenal, which include food services, recreational fields and an 18-hole golf course. In addition, Advance’s plans for future buildings in the PARC include videoconference capabilities, meeting rooms, an auditorium, and classrooms. These amenities will help spur formal and informal collaboration between contractors and government workers, further enabling the exchange of information among various tenants and groups in concert with the concept of technology transfer envisioned by Advance and InSitech.
“We believe that this is an exceptional opportunity to provide technology transfer among varied enterprises in a real estate environment specifically designed to meet the unique needs of high technology tenants,” stated Cocoziello. “We have demand from firms that already have a presence at Picatinny, as well as national companies and research organizations that want to take advantage of both the technology transfer opportunities and the one-of-a-kind technology infrastructure that Picatinny offers.”
Timothy N. Teen, president and CEO of InSitech, added, “When completed, the PARC will be a state-of-the-art, high-tech campus like no other in the country, offering significant ‘technology infrastructure amenities’ in a collaborative manner that will foster innovation. As an outstanding example of a public/private partnership between Advance, InSitech and the United States Army, it will operate as a world-class enhancement to Picatinny’s mission, which is to support the soldier.”
Picatinny commander Brigadier General William N. Phillips added, “The EUL makes use of Picatinny Arsenal’s non-excess real property to augment our R&D mission through collaboration with the commercial sector. Our partnership with InSitech and Advance Realty Group will create substantial value for Picatinny and the U.S. Army over the 50-year lease term through the enhancement of our mission capabilities and the generation of in-kind consideration to support our base operations.”
About Picatinny Arsenal
Picatinny Arsenal is located on approximately 6,500 acres of land with access from NJ State Highway Route 15, a mile from a full interchange on Interstate 80 in Morris County. Picatinny has a distinguished history in armaments and munitions development and production dating back to the Revolutionary War. Today, the installation employs over 4,000 full-time government and contractor personnel. Over 1,600 of Picatinny’s government employees are engineers and/or scientists. Picatinny has approximately $1.5 billion invested in state-of-the-art, cutting edge technological equipment and $115 million in new R&D facility projects in the planning stages or under construction. Many of the technologies support research applications across a broad range of industry, government and university endeavors.
About InSitech
Headquartered at the U.S. Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, New Jersey, InSitech is an integral driver in the Army’s transformation strategy, and Picatinny’s base optimization plan. Representing the business interests of Picatinny/ARDEC as their non-profit partnership intermediary, InSitech is focused on accelerating technology exchange, licensing and commercialization opportunities, through business combination with the Government, University and Private Sectors.
About Advance Realty Group
Advance Realty Group is an owner and developer of office, flex, industrial, retail and multifamily properties. With 5.5 million square feet of operating properties and a development portfolio consisting of eight million square feet of commercial projects and 9,400 residential units, Advance is one of the leading real estate owners in the Northeast and is headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey. For leasing information on Picatinny Applied Research Campus, contact Brian Banaszynski, vice president, Advance Realty Group at (908) 719-3000 or visit www.advancerealtygroup.com.
