Russo, Onyx plan 827K-square-foot industrial facility in Morris County

Russo Development LLC and Onyx Equities are planning to bring big changes to a portion of Novartis Corp.’s 202-acre U.S. headquarters in East Hanover.

On Dec. 13, the partners announced purchasing 62 acres from the pharmaceutical company at Route 10 and Ridgedale Avenue. There, they’ll eliminate 900,000 square feet of vacant office space to build up 826,800 square feet of industrial space.

As the sector experiences historically low vacancies, Russo and Onyx said the development will be one of the largest new industrial projects in Morris County.

Work will begin early next year, with groundbreaking for two buildings ranging between 300,000 square feet and 500,000 square feet before the end of 2022.

“This project reflects Onyx’s strong track record of repositioning large corporate campuses and growing industrial pipeline, and will bring new jobs, businesses and commerce to East Hanover,” said Onyx Equities Co-founder and Managing Principal John Saraceno. “Morris County is a jewel for commercial uses of all types because of its extensive highway system and pool of highly qualified, skilled labor.”

The initiative is the second joint venture for Onyx and Russo.

The first is a part of Russo’s Vermella series: the mixed-use Vermella Woodbridge project, which will bring 500 apartments and 23,000 square feet of retail space to 26 acres of land acquired from Hess Corp. in 2020.

“We are excited to redevelop a portion of one of northern New Jersey’s premier sites into a first-class industrial project,” said Russo Development CEO Edward Russo. “We appreciate the opportunity to work with East Hanover Township and Novartis as the company transforms its East Hanover campus to a more flexible and collaborative workplace design.”

Across the state, Russo and its partners have more than 6 million square feet of industrial projects in the works, ranging from 200,000 square feet to 3 million square feet. Onyx, as well, is developing industrial square footage numbering in the millions throughout the Garden State and Long Island.