NGKF Capital Markets brokered the sale of 242 and 248 Chapman Road in the University Plaza area south of Newark.
The NGKF Capital Markets team comprised of Mike Margolis, Dave Dolan and Brett Segal, along with area experts, Neal Dangello and Wills Elliman, represented Equus Capital Partners in the $15.55 million sale to Chapman Business Associates, LLC.
Chapman is an affiliate of Rockford Capital Partners, a Wilmington-based commercial real estate investor, with holdings in Delaware, Virginia Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina.
The two-building Class B portfolio consists of 242 Chapman Road, a three-story, 65,967-square-foot office building, and 248 Chapman Road, a two-story, 77,974-square-foot office building. Both buildings are 100 percent occupied by two long-term tenants.
KBR, the anchor tenant, has occupied 82 percent of the rentable square footage since 1991.
About half of KBR’s staff services DuPont Co. The second tenant, HP Enterprises, has also been a long-term tenant since. 2000, and is under lease until 2021.
“The portfolio benefits from the long-term tenancy of KBR, an international engineering firm,” Margolis said. “As a deep-rooted vendor of DuPont, the location provides KBR easy access to DuPont’s many Delaware locations. The open floor plates are also well-suited to their engineering use.”
The buildings benefit from a location which is less than a mile from the Interstate 95 Interchange with Route 273.
The two buildings were originally acquired in 2007 on behalf of BPG Investment Partnership VII & VIIA, L.P., a discretionary fund managed by Equus.
Since then, both properties have undergone $1.5 million in renovations, including new ceilings and lighting, updated lobbies and restrooms, a new roof, and HVAC system upgrades. New elevators are currently being installed in 242 Chapman Road.
“We demonstrated our re-positioning expertise with our ability to take this 77 percent occupied project at acquisition with near-term lease expirations and retain and expand the tenants to bring it to 100 percent occupancy, as of closing,” stated Chris Locatell, senior senior vice president at Equus who oversaw the disposition for Equus. “The existing tenants, KBR engineering, and HP Enterprises, have been at the property in varying occupancies since 1991 and 2001, respectively. Our ability to maintain the Class-A atmosphere and condition of the properties has allowed us to satisfy KBR and HP changing occupancy needs even through the challenging leasing environment following our acquisition in 2007 and through the 2008-09 recession,” he added.
Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. is a large equity real estate fund manager. Equus’ portfolio consists of approximately 18 million square-feet of office, retail, and industrial properties and over 11,000 apartment units across 49 multi-family communities located throughout the United States. The firm is headquartered in the Philadelphia area, with a principal office in Yardley, PA,
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is a large commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 14,100 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.
NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets.
