Cadbury Schweppes Office and Technology Center Hanover Township, NJ

Sale of 149,475 square foot office and R&D facility

Savills represented an affiliate of the Archon Group in the sale of the Cadbury Schweppes Office and Technology Center, a 149,475 square foot office and R&D facility.

 

Under construction at the time of the offering, the property was leased to a U.S. subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes plc under a 16 year NNN lease. The property was being built to serve as Cadbury Schweppes' primary R&D facility for its global candy and gum product development efforts. Although the parent enjoyed an investment grade rating of BBB/Baa2, the parent did not guarantee the lease.

 

The property sold for $48,000,000 to Capital Lease Funding, a public REIT focused on net lease properties. The purchase price represented $321 per square foot and a 7.08% cap rate.

 

Savills was able to achieve exceptional pricing both in terms of price per square foot and cap rate by effectively selling through several key issues facing the single-tenant NNN lease property:

  • Non-rated tenant without a lease guarantee from tenant's rated parent.
  • Unique mixed-use property with office, R&D and manufacturing components.
  • Property under construction.
  • No construction completion guarantee.
  • Rent would not commence until 3 months after the sale of the property
 

Savills created a highly competitive bidding process that enabled the seller to accelerate the due diligence and closing timetable:

  • Commenced marketing upon setting of a definitive rent start date