Levin kicks off construction on 30K-square-foot industrial site

A new industrial building will rise in Piscataway this summer at the Rutgers Industrial Center.

On May 5, Levin Management Corp. announced the start of construction on the 30,000-square-foot, Class A speculative warehouse at 101 Circle Drive N.

The North Plainfield-based commercial real estate services firm serves as asset manager for the five-building, 493,000-square-foot complex. For this project, it is also serving as construction manager.

“Demand for quality industrial product in northern and central New Jersey is unprecedented, as companies seek out Last Mile distribution space proximate to the populous New York City metro area,” LMC President Robert Carson said in a prepared statement. “With 101 Circle Drive N., we are positioned to meet the needs of users looking for smaller, move-in ready warehouse space with easy access to the entire metropolitan region and beyond.”

And positioned is the perfect way to put it: Rutgers Industrial Center’s location in Middlesex County is just a half mile from Exit 8 on Interstate 287, 5 miles from Exit 10 of the New Jersey Turnpike, and near to the NS Independent Bulk Transfer Terminal in Middlesex. With connectivity like that, Newark Liberty International Airport and the New York/New Jersey seaports are also within reach.

The building will feature 35-foot minimum clear heights, six dock doors, 38 parking stalls, an ESFR sprinkler system and up to 1,650 square feet of office space, LMC said.

According to Carson, the project points to the range of services offered by the firm, in addition to the retail work it’s commonly known for.

“LMC is widely regarded for its long history of delivering third-party real estate services to retail property owners, and that’s certainly what we are mainly known for,” he said. “Yet our portfolio also includes other commercial property types –including approximately 1.65 million square feet of industrial and office assets – sectors for which we are seeing increased demand.”

According to Colliers New Jersey Industrial Research Report for the First Quarter of 2022, a shortage of available supply in Central Jersey was the cause of a slowdown in occupancy over the first quarter of the year–with the Exit 8A submarket showing an availability rate of 3.6%. However, “newly available space provides opportunities for occupiers that did not exist before.”

Overall, LMC maintains a 120-property, 16 million-square-foot leasing and management portfolio.