Ivy Realty

Partners Making Their Mark After Steady Climb
By JAMES QUIRK
STAFF WRITER - The Record

Before it became a reality, Ivy Equities was little more than an ambitious idea, a recurring topic of conversation between two friends.

Few people noticed when the Montvale-based company made its first real estate acquisition 11 years ago -- a 14,000-square-foot strip mall in Staten Island. And in the midst of the late '90s dot-com boom, getting people interested in real estate was often a tough sell, said Ivy Equities Chief Executive Officer Anthony P. DiTommaso Jr..

Times have changed. Ivy Equities has quietly grown to become a major player in the North Jersey real estate market, completing about $1.2 billion in real estate acquisitions -- and 2007 is proving to be the company's breakthrough year.

In the past six months, Ivy Equities bought the 327,000-square-foot Four Gateway Center in Newark and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s 685,000-square-foot corporate campus in Plainsboro. The company sold its three-building MetroPark portfolio in Iselin for $230 million to Tishman Speyer -- nearly double what Ivy Equities paid for the buildings in 2003.

Further, Ivy Equities signed two major lease deals for a total of 285,000 square feet of space with generic-drug maker Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Woodcliff Lake and venerable Newark law firm McCarter & English LLP.

DiTommaso and Ivy Equities Chairman Russell F. Warren Jr. expressed amusement that anyone would view their company as an overnight success. They attribute their company's growth to a measured business strategy of finding and maximizing potential value in acquired real estate, rather than hunting for quick-hit profit.

Both men offered the successful lease agreement with Barr Pharmaceuticals, at 225 Summit Ave. in Montvale, as an example of their business model. When Ivy Equities teamed up with joint venture partner Paragon to buy the building in 2004, it had been vacated by Toys "R" Us Inc. and left to languish. The toy company had fought through an 18-month battle before the Montvale Planning Board to expand its facility by 200,000 square feet -- which was granted -- but walked away when their bid to build a nine-acre parking garage was denied.

"It was just an ugly building," DiTommaso said with a laugh. "They tried leasing it, but no one was going to lease it -- it just sat there."

But DiTommaso and Warren would frequently drive by the building, and they decided something more could be done with it. Teaming up with Paragon, Ivy Equities pumped an undisclosed sum into renovating and upgrading the 142,500-square-foot building. Before the 14-month construction was even half complete, interested companies came knocking, exploring the idea of moving into the new building.

Similar risks were taken in Ivy Equities' $122 million purchase of Merrill Lynch's Plainsboro campus. The company is set to leave the 20-year-old facility and move to a new one in Hopewell by next year, leaving roughly one third of the campus vacant.

But last month, the investment management firm BlackRock, which merged with Merrill Lynch in September, agreed to a five-year lease for two-thirds of the campus. And DiTommaso and Warren are confidant that the facility's location within the Princeton submarket will attract a new tenant.

Ivy Equities approaches each potential building acquisition as if it were a business unto itself, Warren said. Where other companies may balk at the time and money needed to turn undervalued facilities into desired buildings, Ivy Equities has sought properties with intrinsic value, studying their place in the market "to have a sense of what your potential end user is looking for," he said.

"We pride ourselves in having a great operating company," DiTommaso added. "We look at that as a great way to create value."

To date, Ivy Equities has acquired roughly 6.5 million square feet of real estate. Warren said with the company's current momentum, he wants to see that number reach 10 million in the next two or three years.




			Partners Making Their Mark After Steady Climb By JAMES QUIRK STAFF WRITER - The Record Before it became a reality, Ivy Equities was little more than an ambitious idea, a recurring topic of conversation between two friends. Few people noticed when the Montvale-based company made its first real estate acquisition 11 years ago -- a 14,000-square-foot strip mall in Staten Island. And in the midst of the late '90s dot-com boom, getting people interested in real estate was often a tough sell, said Ivy Equities Chief Executive Officer Anthony P. DiTommaso Jr.. Times have changed. Ivy Equities has quietly grown to become a major player in the North Jersey real estate market, completing about $1.2 billion in real estate acquisitions -- and 2007 is proving to be the company's breakthrough year. In the past six months, Ivy Equities bought the 327,000-square-foot Four Gateway Center in Newark and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s 685,000-square-foot corporate campus in Plainsboro. The company sold its three-building MetroPark portfolio in Iselin for $230 million to Tishman Speyer -- nearly double what Ivy Equities paid for the buildings in 2003. Further, Ivy Equities signed two major lease deals for a total of 285,000 square feet of space with generic-drug maker Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Woodcliff Lake and venerable Newark law firm McCarter & English LLP. DiTommaso and Ivy Equities Chairman Russell F. Warren Jr. expressed amusement that anyone would view their company as an overnight success. They attribute their company's growth to a measured business strategy of finding and maximizing potential value in acquired real estate, rather than hunting for quick-hit profit. Both men offered the successful lease agreement with Barr Pharmaceuticals, at 225 Summit Ave. in Montvale, as an example of their business model. When Ivy Equities teamed up with joint venture partner Paragon to buy the building in 2004, it had been vacated by Toys "R" Us Inc. and left to languish. The toy company had fought through an 18-month battle before the Montvale Planning Board to expand its facility by 200,000 square feet -- which was granted -- but walked away when their bid to build a nine-acre parking garage was denied. "It was just an ugly building," DiTommaso said with a laugh. "They tried leasing it, but no one was going to lease it -- it just sat there." But DiTommaso and Warren would frequently drive by the building, and they decided something more could be done with it. Teaming up with Paragon, Ivy Equities pumped an undisclosed sum into renovating and upgrading the 142,500-square-foot building. Before the 14-month construction was even half complete, interested companies came knocking, exploring the idea of moving into the new building. Similar risks were taken in Ivy Equities' $122 million purchase of Merrill Lynch's Plainsboro campus. The company is set to leave the 20-year-old facility and move to a new one in Hopewell by next year, leaving roughly one third of the campus vacant. But last month, the investment management firm BlackRock, which merged with Merrill Lynch in September, agreed to a five-year lease for two-thirds of the campus. And DiTommaso and Warren are confidant that the facility's location within the Princeton submarket will attract a new tenant. Ivy Equities approaches each potential building acquisition as if it were a business unto itself, Warren said. Where other companies may balk at the time and money needed to turn undervalued facilities into desired buildings, Ivy Equities has sought properties with intrinsic value, studying their place in the market "to have a sense of what your potential end user is looking for," he said. "We pride ourselves in having a great operating company," DiTommaso added. "We look at that as a great way to create value." To date, Ivy Equities has acquired roughly 6.5 million square feet of real estate. Warren said with the company's current momentum, he wants to see that number reach 10 million in the next two or three years.
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