Hampshire Cos. sells 176,062 s/f building; Represented by CBRE team

The Hampshire Cos. has completed the sale of 8 Sylvan Way, a 176,062 s/f class A office building. The sale was made to Cole Real Estate Investments for $53 million. The property is fully leased on a long-term basis to The Medicines Co., a provider of medical solutions to improve health outcomes for patients in acute and intensive care hospitals worldwide. Jeffrey Dunne, Steven Bardsley, and Kevin Welsh of CB Richard Ellis represented Hampshire. Hampshire acquired the property in 2005 when it consisted of a 100,000 s/f, B- building partially occupied by the Chubb Institute, a job training school. In July 2007, Hampshire commenced construction to expand and completely transform the building into a Class A, headquarters quality facility. The company enlisted the renowned HLW Architects, and together, they designed a plan to take the building down to its steel and create their vision for this prestigious office space within one of Northern New Jersey's most sought after corporate addresses. In addition, Hampshire was able to preserve the property's open space park-like setting and added as many LEED initiatives as possible. Buzz began to circulate in the commercial real estate industry as Hampshire launched its marketing program to lease the project, which specifically targeted headquarter requirements in the region. This effort resulted in Hampshire securing The Medicines Company to a 15 year, full building lease. By December 2008, 8 Sylvan Way was the global headquarters of The Medicines Company. Hampshire's creative and decisive program was well-recognized in the commercial real estate world. It was awarded the highly coveted Economic Impact Deal of the Year Award from the New Jersey Chapter of National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NJ-NAIOP) in 2008. "This is the perfect example of how our proven system and strategy of acquiring properties, adding value and selling buildings at a market value can be successful in any market, even with strained economic climates and shrinking job markets," said James Hanson, II, president & CEO of The Hampshire Companies. "We started this project in 2005, and despite some challenges, we stuck with our tried and true strategy, resulting in an amazing success story." 8 Sylvan Way is conveniently located just off of Interstate 287, two miles south of I-80, and bordered by US Route 202 and NJ Route 10 in Morris County.