Saxum Real Estate Partners is bringing SoHo-style space to suburbia. The Parsippany-based real estate firm just started its own fund with $75 million set aside to buy and reposition properties in cosmopolitan, pedestrian-friendly, downtown areas with easy access to transportation.
The firm hopes to “bring Soho to the suburbs.” The suburb being Red Bank, New Jersey, with its galleries, shopping, restaurants, and theaters plus an NJ Transit stop and a ferry to NYC. Located on the Navesink River and coined “The Gateway to the Two Rivers,” it is a borough with a big city vibe and Saxum has acquired a historic building downtown at 55 Broad Street with plans to renovate and reposition as modern office space. Built in 1914 for First National Bank, the granite and marble building was most recently home to Smith Barney but has been vacant for five years.
Saxum’s strategy has been a successful one in similar “Sub-Urban” areas like Montclair and Ridgewood, finding a niche in a market that is somewhere in between SoHo and suburbia, that wants office space of the same standard as the rest of their downtown services, but doesn’t get the attention of big developers with a New York City aesthetic.
55 Broad Street in Red Bank, called The Vault, is 24,000 square feet with extremely high ceilings and great light and air. Exposed brick and suspended lighting are featured in the renderings, and the building will have outdoor space and is within walking distance of all of downtown’s amenities which is just what Red Bank promises–the best of all worlds.
