Plainsboro NJ
In 2007 Ivy Purchased the former Merrill Lynch office building located at 800 Scudders Mill Road in Plainsboro NJ. When purchased, Merrill Lynch had already vacated the property, and Blackrock remained in the building filling approximately half of the building at 400,000 square feet.
In addition to the three story office building, the property consisted of a large food service facility, corporate meeting rooms, a fully mature landscaped setting, jogging and fitness facility, and was located adjacent to the Merrill Lynch Training and Conference Center, currently operated as a Wyndham Hotel. The fixture and finish of the building was built to a corporate headquarters standard in the 1980s, and these features remained. In addition, Ivy acquired rights to adjacent property, permitting a further development of an additional 600,000 Square Feet of office and amenity space.
The strength of the property was in its excellent location, and was irreplaceable. Its infrastructure is located near major highways, the New Jersey Turnpike, and Route 1 is close to Princeton University.
The attributes of the building – structural, mechanical, and electrical were all built to a corporate headquarters standard.
The building is adjacent to a 5 acre lake and surrounded by a 99 acre protected forest. The landscaping is mature with many specimen trees, outdoor amenities including an amphitheater, jogging trail and landscaped courtyards, and under building parking. These amenities would not be economically replicated in competitive suburban office developments.
The Site
The property is situated on approximately 50 acres in Princeton Forrestal Center
Forrestal Center is a planned development which is home to company headquarters, including Siemens, Munich Re, Robert Wood Johnson, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Princeton Hospital, and others. PMUD management insures that the park like setting originally environed by the trustees of Princeton University remains intact.
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Challenges
The acquisition of the property presented a number of issues. The building layout was designed as a single purpose building for Merrill Lynch. At 800,000 Square Feet in total size, the building may have to be subdivided for more than one tenant in order to meet the suburban office market.
New Master Plan
To address that issue, Ivy began a comprehensive master planning effort for the site, allowing for property division into two headquarters quality buildings each with individual identity. This involved potential relocation of the Food Service amenity, and addition of main entrances for individual tenants. The master plan was used in the renewed leasing effort. Through the master planning effort, Ivy developed a budget and a value proposition which compared the cost of a redevelopment of the existing building, versus a new “Class A” building.
Tenant’s Need
Throughout the master planning effort, Ivy estimated costs for each alternative. The data supported an alternative to the build to suit option for major corporate users. The redevelopment option offered the additional benefit of sustainability. Preservation of the bulk of the building and its associated mature landscape was an environmentally responsible alternative. When Ivy learned that Novo Nordisk considering a build to suit option adjacent to their existing facility, Ivy offered a redevelopment option to Novo Nordisk. It took several distinct efforts and revised master plans to illustrate the advantages of the redevelopment Ivy demonstrated the effectiveness of the cost alternative and the compatibility with Novo’s corporate policy of sustainability creating a compelling argument for redevelopment.
Assembling the Team
A successful redevelopment project must serve a complex set of relationships and objectives. Ivy was able to identify its constituents, and assemble a team of professional partners and investors to work closely with Ivy in planning and constructing Novo’s new headquarters. Ivy brought several key players to the redevelopment. Each had its own objectives to meet and strengths to bring to the deal. Intercontinental was seeking investments in New Jersey to meet its objective of investing construction union pension fund money. Its objectives were not only return on equity, but job creation for its union investors..
Ivy brought LCOR as development co-manager. LCOR’s resume of large development projects made it the ideal partner to insure success of the 200 million dollar redevelopment.
The designers and construction managers were identified at the beginning of the process and worked with the development team, State and Local Government from the outset.
As a result, Ivy assembled a high quality team to produce a world class U.S. headquarters for Novo Nordisk.
Progress on the project continues through 2012, and the project is on schedule for a 2013 occupancy. Work includes the complete replacement of the exterior skin of the building, upgrades to the mechanical system, toilet rooms, elevator cabs, common areas, and a complete Tenant Improvement package. The total redevelopment budget is $215 Million Dollars.
Exterior Progress
Existing concrete façade removal
Exterior façade removed
New façade application
Executed Vision
The completed vision will be a totally renewed building, employing the principles of contemporary Danish design, LEED silver certification, totally consistent with Novo’s triple bottom line goals of social responsibility, environmental soundness, and economic viability. The building will provide expansion potential to meet Novo’s needs into the foreseeable future.
