HAMMONTON—The former home of Whitehall-Robins’ research and development and corporate offices, located at 1001 Grand St., has sold for an undisclosed amount of money.
According to Ken Richardson, the executive director at Vantage Commercial—who brokered the sale—the asking price was $6.75 million.
Richardson said that the deal was closed on September 3.
“I sold it for the Israeli-based owners ... They bought it from a tax sale a whole bunch of years ago,” Richardson told The Gazette.
According to public records, the most recent owners were 1001 Grant LLC.
The undisclosed buyers, Richardson said, are “a real estate investment group out of Lakewood, N.J.”
“I don’t have detailed information on what they plan to do with it, but they do plan to repurpose it and occupy it ... It was converted to office use, and I believe it will be a hybrid between office and industrial again,” Richardson said.
Richardson said that the property was constructed in 1986 and—after Whitehall-Robins closed their facility in the 1990s—was later utilized by several businesses and agencies, including NJM, South Jersey Gas and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to a release by Vantage Commercial, the 24-acre property houses a structure that is approximate 105,000 square feet and “will undergo a conversion back to its original use as a light manufacturing and industrial complex.”
“Initially, Vantage Commercial was hired to lease office space within the complex. With the slow-down in office leasing, resulting from the global pandemic, Vantage procured a listing with ownership to sell the property,” the release said.
Mayor Stephen DiDonato said that he is “very encouraged for the sale and for the transformation it’s going to undergo.”
“I’m very encouraged to hear that it’s going to be changed to some loading docks, a little more industrial, maybe some receiving. I think they’ll have a better chance of a couple of different things: filling the building and, in filling the building, it’ll provide some jobs and some walking wallets, so to speak, maybe for lunch downtown—or whatever the case may be—spending money in Hammonton,” DiDonato said.
Richardson echoed DiDonato’s encouragement.
“I don’t know how many jobs will be created for it and such, but they have a plan for it,” Richardson said.
DiDonato expressed hope for the future of the property.
“It sat vacant for a while, so we’re encouraged for, number one, seeing it full, and maintained, and become a tremendous ratable for the town of Hammonton,” DiDonato said.
In other local commercial real estate news, Vantage Commercial announced the off-market sale of the former Capital One Bank located at 245 Bellevue Avenue, a press release from October 14 said. National Credit Reporting Systems, Inc. purchased the property and will use it for their business, the release said.
Richardson and Aran Ploshansky, Director at Vantage Commercial, worked with Jeff Tunis, the property owner, to position the building for lease, the press release said.
“Vantage Commercial was professional and responsive to my needs during the entire process. I really appreciated the updates and the availability of the Vantage team to answer my calls and tour my building. Ken is a seasoned deal maker and truly makes things happen,” Tunis said.
“We had a few strong tenants interested in the building for full occupancy and partial occupancy use. The deals were put on hold during the highpoint of the pandemic as users did not see value in signing at that time. We continued to tour and that is when I met Curt Knuth from NCS,” Richardson said.
“Vantage was easy and great to work with. They kept all parties communicating and moving forward. I would recommend Vantage for your needs,” Knuth said.
Gina Rullo contributed to this report.