Mesirow Pays $650.3Mln for Verizon's Northern N.J. Operations Center
Written by Dan Moynihan
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A unit of Mesirow Financial has paid $650.3 million, or $464.50/sf, for 1 Verizon Way, the 1.4 million-square-foot Verizon operations center in Basking Ridge, N.J.
The unit, Mesirow Realty Sale-Leaseback Inc., bought the property from Verizon Communications Inc., which is leasing it back under a 20-year agreement. Cushman & Wakefield was financial adviser and placement agent for the telecommunications company.
The property, Verizon Center, is comprised of seven buildings on a 135-acre property that was developed in the 1970s and occupied by AT&T. Pharmacia had acquired the property in 2002 for $200 million and three years later sold and vacated it, when it had merged with Pfizer Inc., to Verizon in a deal also brokered by Cushman & Wakefield.
Verizon, which since has invested in a number of significant upgrades, houses some 3,900 employees at the property, which also serves as the headquarters for its wireless business unit.
"This real estate deal provides our company with immediate financial benefits and allows us to extract significant value from this asset while continuing to occupy the entirety of its office space," explained John M. Vazquez, senior vice president and head of global real estate for Verizon.
DLA Piper served as counsel for Verizon in the transaction.
Mesirow Financial is an independent diversified financial services firm. We aim to understand, anticipate and meet our clients' financial needs with a multitude of high-quality products and services.
With headquarters in Chicago, and locations across the globe, we are made up of approximately 1,200 employees, of which 30% have ownership in the firm.
For the past seven decades our firm has remained committed to the distinguishing characteristics and core values upon which it was founded.
Our firm is well capitalized and has been consistently profitable, with capital of $367 million, revenues totaling $469 million for fiscal 2015 and $94.9 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2015, broken down as follows:
| Capital | $367 million, as of March 31, 2015 | |
| Revenues | $469 million for fiscal 2015 | |
| Total assets under management | $94.9 billion, as of September 30, 2015 | |
| Currency Management | $62.9 billion* | |
| Advanced Strategies | $13.4 billion | |
| Fixed Income | $4.8 billion | |
| Wealth Advisors | $4.0 billion | |
| Private Equity | $3.8 billion | |
| Investment Strategies | $3.5 billion | |
| Institutional Real Estate – Direct | $1.7 billion | |
| U.S. Value Equity | $0.3 billion | |
| Agriculture | $0.0 billion | |