NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., March 31, 2010 – The finalists for the highly coveted “Deal of the Year Awards” have been announced by the New Jersey Chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. Two winners, one for creativity and one for economic impact, will be revealed at the Twenty-third Annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at The Palace at Somerset Park. The finalists are (in random order):
 
Advance@Southgate, Morris Township, the largest new lease completed in Morris County in 2009 (Peter Cocoziello, Kurt Padavano, Brian Banaszynski and Nadine Golis, Advance Realty; David Meisenhelder, Strategic Capital Partners; Linda Dow, Jeffrey Heller, Craig Eisenhardt and Bradford Fenlon, CB Richard Ellis).
 
15 Mercedes Drive, Montvale, Coining Inc.’s full-building lease (Robert Rudin, Matthew Seltzer and Dan Johnsen, Cushman & Wakefield; Todd Anderson and Kim Stirba-Reynolds, The Hampshire Companies; Gary Holcomb and Pete Pachella, Coining, Inc.; Thomas Vetter and Jeff DeMagistris, NAI James E. Hanson).
 
85 Challenger Road, Ridgefield Park, the tri-state area’s first post-Lehman Class A office space investor sale (Michael Medvin, AIG; Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Marc Trevisan, David DeMatteis and Brian Whitmer, Cushman & Wakefield; Kenneth Pasternak, Laurence Rappaport and Adam Altman, KABR;  John Oh and Paul March, CB Richard Ellis).
 
Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., creative use of lease and incentives (the first use of the new Economic Redevelopment and Growth grant) to capture one of the larger corporate relocations in the New York metro region in years (Donald Donahue and Anthony Alizzi, DTCC; Caren Franzini and Tim Lizura, NJEDA; Charles Borrok, Phillip Weiss and David DeMatteis, Cushman & Wakefield; Rosemary McFadden and Jerramiah Healy, Jersey City; Richard LeFrak and Jamie LeFrak, The LeFrak Organization; Jay Biggins, Biggins, Lacy & Shapiro Co.).
 
Waterfront Corporate Center 1, Hoboken, a successful outcome at the low point of the cycle in terms of liquidity (Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel and Brian Whitmer, Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group; Cavarly Garrett and Mark Bonapace, J.P. Morgan Asset Management; John Mannix, HRPT Properties Trust).
 
AustarPharma, Edison, prevented closure of a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing plant (Tom Sullivan, CB Richard Ellis; Frank D. Visceglia, Jr., Federal Business Centers; Joel Jacobson, Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus, PA; Jack Fersko, Farer Fersko; John Kerins and David McClish, Abbott Laboratories; Ron Liu, AustarPharma).
The Deal of the Year nominees were judged by: Dr. James Hughes, Dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy at Rutgers University; Dianne R. Brake, President of PlanSmart New Jersey; Edward A. Glickman, Adjunct Professor of Finance at the New York University School of Business and President and COO of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust; Lawrence Pobuda, Chairman of NAIOP and co-founder of the Stewart Lawrence Group; and Michael Seeve, Mountain Development Corp.
 
Tickets are now on sale for the Gala, honoring the recipients of the 2010 Commercial Real Estate Awards: Peter O. Hanson, Lifetime Achievement Award; Somerset Development, Impact Award; The Walsh Company LLC and Sills Cummis & Gross P. C. Industry Service Awards; and Jones Lang LaSalle, Chairman’s Award. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a Welcome Reception, followed by the Awards Ceremony and then the Grand Reception. Gretchen Wilcox of Q 10/G.S. Wilcox & Co. and Michael Seeve of Mountain Development Corp. are co-chairs of the Gala. For tickets, commemorative journal pages and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Bonnie Sovinee at 732-729-9900 (sovinee@njnaiop.org).