Griffin Capital Buys Verizon Wireless Data Center in NJ

Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT has bought a property in Warren, New Jersey that serves as a major Verizon Wireless data center, the company said this week. Griffin Capital paid $40 million for the six-story, 210,500 square-foot building is fully-leased to Cellco Partnership (Verizon Wireless) through December 2020. The seller was an unidentified institutional investor.

While outside of New Jersey's traditional data center hubs, Griffin Capital said the property was attractive due to its location along the Interstate 78 Corridor, which has excellent access and is near New Jersey's "Wealth Belt" of highly affluent bedroom communities in Somerset and Hunterdon counties. The area has a high concentration of executive housing and a deep pool of skilled workers.

"We are pleased to acquire a critical operating location for Verizon Wireless, which has occupied this location as a key IT facility since its formation as a joint-venture company in 2000," Louis Sohn, Griffin Capital's Senior Vice President of Acquisitions. "Over the past 13 years the tenant has continually reaffirmed its commitment to the Property through significant capital investments into the asset to position it as a premier, self-contained corporate campus with back-up power, dining, fitness and data center facilities."

"This marks our second acquisition in the Northern New Jersey Market, which has historically had a deep base of corporate users in the pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries," said Michael Escalante, Griffin Capital's Chief Investment Officer. "From an industry and credit perspective, we are very optimistic about the wireless telecommunications industry as a whole and particularly enthusiastic about our tenant's positioning within the space."

Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT operates a portfolio of 22 office and industrial distribution properties totaling approximately 4.72 million square feet and total capitalization of over $700 million. The REIT's sponsor is Griffin Capital Corporation, a privately-owned real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles.