Summit East sits on a gated, 46-acre campus in Summit; a 640,000-square-foot, 11-building office complex offering downtown access, along with convenient commuter options.
Onyx Equities retained JLL as exclusive leasing agent for the property, unveiled July 25, along with two potential redesign concepts from HLW.
Summit East includes a pair of recently updated Class A, LEED-certified buildings, L and J, which are interconnected by two enclosed pedestrian bridges to nine additional buildings.
According to the announcement, that majority of interior buildings can be reworked for “virtually any purpose.”
Building blocks
Renderings, below, from HLW’s Ed Shim and Chris Townsend provide two options for Summit Easts nine interior structures, while also maintaining Buildings L and J:
Raze the nine buildings so as to maximize the recreational green space at the property; or
Redevelop the separate buildings into one, customized 190,000-square-foot modern facility, with landscaping and parking.
– HLW
Building L is a 191,448-square-foot, two-story office building with a four-story parking garage. It was built to LEED Gold specifications in 2015. Building J is a 153,528-square-foot, two-story, LEED Silver certified office building. The remaining interconnected buildings vary from one- to three-stories across office, R&D, storage and administrative spaces, with landscaped grounds and with outdoor seating.
“Onyx Equities has built a world-class reputation for reinventing large scale projects to meet the ever-evolving needs of tenants seeking a next-level working environment to grow their business and engage a talented and innovative workforce,” said JLL Executive Managing Director Tim Greiner in a statement. “Coupled with a superior location with scenic bike paths and within walking distance of what is arguably the best suburban downtown in New Jersey, Summit East presents an opportunity for a large user to customize an incomparable site.”
Greiner is leading the marketing of the property along with Executive Managing Director Jim Medenbach and Managing Director Blake Goodman.
According to Goodman, the site’s previous owner – a life sciences company – invested more than $200 million in capital improvements at the campus. “Summit East provides multiple options to create a landmark hub that is tailor-made for a corporate tenant seeking a unique suburban location close to a thriving downtown,” he added.
The outdoors offers tenant-amenities, as well, including an electric bike station and 10 entry points to the Summit Park Line—a 1.2-mile pedestrian path connecting the development directly to downtown.
Summit East is 1 mile from Routes 24 and 78; 15 minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport by way of the Garden State Parkway and offers direct rail service to Manhattan in under 45 minutes.
Corporate neighbors include: Nokia, BMS, KPMG, McKinsey & Co., Morgan Stanley and others.
According to JLL, a recent survey from the firm found that employers are looking for top-notch space for employees in a changing work environment: 65% of New Jersey office leases for more than 50,000 square feet were concentrated in “premier” class buildings over the past 12 months, with vacancy tightening in the sector and moving upward in the “regular” Class A market.
“Summit East offers residual value in terms of its current infrastructure, $220 million in recent capital expenditures and two brand-new Class-A LEED-certified properties that position it for immediate occupancy,” DJ Venn, executive vice president of asset management for Onyx Equities, said in a statement. “We anticipate a great deal of interest from end users across the corporate spectrum as this is a rare opportunity for a blank-slate parcel in an ideal location.”
“Summit East is a move-in ready headquarters location with a unique opportunity to be reconfigured to meet the market’s demand.”