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Verizon has sold and leased back its massive operations complex in Somerset County in a $650 million deal brokered by Cushman & Wakefield, in what the real estate services firm called the largest sale-leaseback ever completed in suburban New Jersey.

The buyer of the 1.4 million-square-foot complex in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards was Mesirow Realty Sale-Leaseback Inc., C&W said Wednesday. The acquirer is a division of Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm headquartered in Chicago.

The operations center, which employs some 3,900 full-time employees, houses a full range of businesses within Verizon Communications and also serves as headquarters for Verizon Wireless, C&W said in a news release. As part of the transaction, Verizon will lease back the entire facility from Mesirow for a 20-year term.

“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,” John M. Vazquez, senior vice president and head of global real estate for Verizon, said in a prepared statement. “Cushman & Wakefield achieved our strategic objectives by maximizing value and flexibility through the best possible deal structure.”

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It’s the latest in string of high-profile sale-leaseback deals for blue-chip companies based in in New Jersey, as the firms increasingly look to monetize their real estate while providing an opportunity for new investors. In March, Sony Electronics Inc. announced it had sold its Park Ridge office building to developer Hornrock Properties and will lease back part of the property for two years.

And Cushman said the $650.3 million sale value represents one of the highest sales prices per square foot of any suburban sale-leaseback in the U.S.

The complex, which sits on some 135 acres, was originally built some 40 years ago by AT&T and then sold to the drug maker Pharmacia Corp. in 2002 for $200 million. Pharmacia was later acquired by Pfizer — which never occupied the property, but sold it to Verizon in 2005.

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The Cushman & Wakefield team was led by its real estate investment banking group in combination with the company’s New York brokerage and New Jersey investment sales teams, the news release said. C&W acted as financial adviser and exclusive placement agent for Verizon on the transaction.

“We delivered an execution that optimized financing terms for the purchaser through a carefully crafted, credit tenant lease,” said Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice President Michael Rotchford, its head of corporate finance and investment banking.  “This structure successfully delivers current and long-term value for both Verizon and Mesirow.”

Along with Rotchford, the Cushman investment banking team included David Wenk, Robert Elms and Mark Todrys. They worked in conjunction with both Executive Vice Chairman Josh Kuriloff and David Bernhaut, vice chairman of the Cushman & Wakefield capital markets group in New Jersey.

“Cushman & Wakefield works closely with the outstanding team of professionals at Verizon to help the company meet its real estate-related goals,” Kuriloff said. “Thanks to our ability to partner with Verizon, we efficiently execute transactions that serve the company’s strategic priorities.”

The Verizon team was led by Vazquez and included James Tousignant and Robert Haines, as well as internal Verizon counsel Steven Cohen. Led by Mark Hurel, DLA Piper served as counsel for Verizon.

Mesirow Realty Sale-Leaseback Inc. was led by Garry Cohen and Douglas Barker, with legal representation by Goldberg Kohn.

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