650 College Road: Aegis Property
Appraising Business: Ray Moran
Corrections or additions?
These articles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on December 15,
1999. All rights reserved.
Good Tidings for Real Estate
Princeton’s landlords have reason to be cheerful this
holiday season. Micky Landis, vice president of Boston Properties,
just broke ground on this year’s new building (302 Carnegie Center)
and has filled up last year’s project (502) almost to the brim. Peter
Longstreth of the Aegis Property Group has leased nearly 90 percent
of the new 650 College Road and anticipates a groundbreaking on 750
College Road next year.
Landis notes that of the 170,000 square feet of new space at the
Carnegie
Center, more than half — 104,000 feet — is meeting the growth
of the current tenant base, and that all of 506’s space went to
existing
tenants.
The three current tenants, all moving to 502 from within the center,
are Morgan Lewis & Bockius (a branch of the fourth largest law firm
in the world (U.S. 1, February 10), Maritz Performance Improvement
Company (U.S. 1, November 24), and the law firm of Taylor & Colicchio
(formerly Mason Taylor Colicchio). Summit Bank will also be a major
tenant of 502 and will take 68,000 feet on the second and third
floors.
Boston Properties and several other tenants will also move from
Carnegie
101 to the ground floor of 502 to accommodate an expansion of Nycomed
Amersham at 101. The three-story 115,000-foot building has about 7,500
feet remaining.
Micky (Mitchell) Landis had worked in his older brother Alan’s real
estate group for three years when he was called on to negotiate the
sale of all the Landis Group property to Boston Properties, the
Boston-based
real estate investment trust headed by publisher Mortimer Zuckerman.
That was in 1997. Now Boston Properties manages everything in that
portfolio and owns most of it. Landis is regional vice president.
Landis had a varied career before settling into full-time real estate
work. He spent time in the Coast Guard reserves and majored in
economics
at New York University for his bachelor’s degree and did coursework
for a master’s in economics. In his 19 years in the food business,
he founded a group of restaurants, including Marita’s Cantina. (One
of them occupied the Nassau Street space that Triumph Brewery now
has, and six are currently operating.) Landis and his wife, Linda,
have two preschool children.
There are six Landis siblings. Their father was an accountant, and
their mother, Rae, owned an art business, as did daughter Diana. Alan
— whose is eight years older than Micky and whose wife is also
named Linda — developed most of the Carnegie Center and is now
the part-owner of two professional sports teams. Another brother Mark,
an attorney, is running a security company, and a sister, Eileen,
is a filmmaker in Los Angeles. An adopted brother runs an Ethiopian
restaurant, Makeda, in New Brunswick.
Ground was broken in September on Carnegie 302, to be a three-story,
65,000 foot “spec” building on a triangular lot south of
Summit
Bank. No tenants are announced as yet. Merrill Lynch was sniffing
around this building and might have chosen to move here rather than
to 5/7 Roszel Road if had not been for the no-compete clause that
Summit Bancorp has in its Carnegie Center lease, says Landis. It seems
that Merrill Lynch has a policy to not sign a lease at any center
that would not allow retail banking. “They negotiated for 3 1/2
years with us. I believe it fell apart for that reason,” says
Landis, “though they have never said that.” But there are
still lots of other deals in this year’s sleigh.
Top Of PageMorgan Lewis at 502
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, 502 Carnegie Center,Suite 301, Princeton 08540-6273. Robert Alan White, managing partner.609-520-6600; fax, 609-520-6639. Home page:https://www.mlb.com.This branch of the fourth largest global law firm expanded for thesecond time this year. Founded in Philadelphia in 1873, Morgan Lewishas 13 offices and 1,000 attorneys worldwide; here it has 12 attorneysand took enough space, 15,000 feet, for 23. This office focuses onbusiness and finance (with emphasis on emerging technology companies),labor and employment, commercial litigation, and patent law (U.S.1, February 10, 1999). More than 50 percent of this branch’s clientsare from the IT industry, and others include life sciences,pharmaceutical,and biotech industries.Top Of PageTaylor & ColicchioIt’s unusual at a law firm for the two named partnersto have been pals since their freshman year in college. Paul C. Taylorand Philip M. Colicchio were in the same class at Seton Hall twodecadesago (Class of 1981), and their lifelong friendship is now a successfullaw partnership, Taylor & Colicchio LLP. It has moved within theCarnegieCenter to building 502.”We are thrilled to be able to do this together and move intothe rest of our lives together,” says Colicchio. He grew up inElizabeth and, like Taylor, was a day student at Seton Hall, whocommutedfrom Edison. Taylor’s father worked for Prudential and his motherwas a teacher. Colicchio majored in history and English, and Taylorwas a communications major and also “the voice” of SetonHall’sbasketball team.Colicchio went to law school at Villanova and went into litigationfor a Philadelphia firm, and Taylor went to the University ofPennsylvaniaand worked in commercial real estate for a District of Columbia firm.In 1987-’88 they switched: Colicchio moved south, to take a job atFreddie Mac, the federal commercial mortgage agency. Taylor movednorth to join Rip Mason at Mason’s father’s firm (Mason Griffin &Pierson on Poor Farm Road). In 1990 when Rip Mason set up a corporatepractice at the Carnegie Center, Taylor moved with him to form Mason,Briody, Taylor.Meanwhile, representing Freddie Mac, Colicchio was getting a chanceto work with Taylor on some commercial mortgages in New Jersey.”Itwas a lot of fun doing business with a friend,” says Colicchio.”A couple of years ago Paul surprised me with a proposal to comeback home.”In 1992 Colicchio joined Mason Briody Taylor — until then prettymuch limited to corporate real estate — to head up a litigationpractice. Several permutations later (Rip Mason left to work for acosmetics company in California in 1998) there are two firms of aboutequal size: Gallagher Briody Butler at 212 Carnegie and TaylorColicchioat 502.With 25 employees, Taylor & Colicchio LLP has 12 attorneys, includingfive other partners. It focuses on the commercial banking industry,doing litigation, commercial real estate. It has a corporatetransactionalpractice and does general business counseling. The firm has 8,000square feet in its new offices, down from 10,000 feet in its formerspace because, with all law information on line, it no longer needsa traditional library.Both men are married and have children in parochial schools: Pauland Lauren have three children under six (soon to be four), and Philand Kathy have three school-aged children.How their relationship enhances the partnership: “Clearly, itis the ability to speak freely,” says Colicchio, “so thatevery day that I walk into the office I can trust the guy next doorwith the intimate details of my life. I can put all my faith and trustin Paul and I think he does in me. We would never do anything thatwould compromise the other.”Sometimes talented smart individuals, each with their own businessunit but all under one roof, may vote based on their units’ welfarerather than for common goals. In contrast, says Taylor, “Whenwe can make decisions as a small business, we know that what we arehearing is straight thinking. We know there is no other agenda whenwe talk to each other. There isn’t any underlying motive.””Advancing agendas is very common in any boardroom or any lawfirm,” says Colicchio. “When you can have a relationship thatis pure and devoid of that, that is unusual.”Taylor & Colicchio LLP, 502 Carnegie Center, Suite103, Princeton 08540. Paul C. Taylor, partner. 609-987-0022; fax,609-987-0070. E-mail: pcolicchio@taylorandcolicchio.comTop Of Page650 College Road: Aegis PropertyIn October Buchanan Ingersoll, the big Pittsburgh-basedlaw firm, moved from 500 College Road into 62,000 square feet at 650College Road and is the principal tenant there. James Kinzig and PeterLongstreth, of the Aegis Property Group, developed the building inpartnership with a 150-year-old family-owned investment firm,Philadelphia-basedBerwind Property Group. Ballinger Co. was the architect and L. F.Driscoll did the construction of the four-story 168,000 square footbuilding.”It is an exciting building with multiple telecommunicationssuppliersat every level — primary service from Bell Atlantic and AT&T andthree different Internet Service Providers, enough to createcompetition,”says Kinzig.Aegis is also building out space for two major tenants: IFP NorthAmerica (the alternative energy company now at Princeton Overlook)and Arthur Andersen (which vacated space at the Carnegie Center andis temporarily running its Princeton business from the Roselandoffice.)American Appraisal moved into 13,000 feet in October. Princeton eCom(formerly Princeton Telecom) moved from Research Park to 50,000 feethere at the end of November. “I am approaching 90 percentleased,”says Kinzig.Kinzig, a native of Dayton, Ohio, went to the University of Michigan(Class of 1975), the London School of Economics, and Wharton. Heworkedfor Philadelphia National Bank for 10 years and joined Longstrethin the Aegis Property Group in 1985.Peter Longstreth, the son of civic leader Thacher Longstreth, majoredin English at Princeton and graduated in 1966, the year after BillBradley. Longstreth is now working on the presidential candidate’sfinance committee in Philadelphia. After a stint in the Peace Corpsand Philadelphia National Bank, in 1980 he co-founded a company toencourage foreign investment in U.S.-based real estate projects. Thatdeveloped into a full-fledged real estate company: the Aegis PropertyGroup. The group has always had a close financial relationship withBerwind Property Group, a subsidiary of one of the largest privatelyowned real estate corporations.Longstreth and Kinzig developed State Street Square, a 14-story,300,000square foot building adjacent to Trenton’s capitol complex, and hasa satellite office there with a view of the capitol dome. After nearly20 years in the business, it is still one of Longstreth’s favoriteprojects because he had a chance to “change an urban landscapeforever.”Says Longstreth: “You are taking an underutilized piece of groundand creating a building that will be a reference for an entire cityfor the foreseeable future. It was a great responsibility, and I amvery pleased with how that turned out. The site was so central andso integrally related to the capital complex that it had to be doneright, and I am pleased that it was.”In contrast, 650 College Road is what Longstreth terms “a classicsuburban development with a well conceived master plan. We fit intoan environment that had been defined by Princeton University 20 yearsago. It is suburban development at its best. In contrast to doingthings on a relatively small scale with no real context, with avarietyof elements that are not totally controlled, there is at the ForrestalCenter a big piece of ground, a master plan, and an emphasis onqualitycontrol. This building is a tribute to the master planning processthat occurred some time ago.”Berwind Property also owns the four-story, 247,000-foot Arbor 600at 600 College Road. The Aegis Group also has a piece of ground southof 650 College Road (flanking number 700, owned by First Boston/CreditSuisse and occupied by Bloomberg Financial Markets). It hopes to breakground next year on 750 College Road and finish a three-story,100,000-footbuilding in 2001.Top Of PageBuchanan IngersollBuchanan Ingersoll, 650 College Road East, Suite4000, Princeton 08540. David J. Sorin Esq., partner-in-charge, NewJersey. 609-987-6800; fax, 609-520-0360. Home page:https://www.BIPC.com.This Pittsburgh-based law firm is the lead tenant at the new Aegisbuilding. Founded in 1850, it has 34 attorneys in the Princetonoffice,focusing on these areas: corporate securities, venture capital,banking,intellectual property, litigation, healthcare, bankruptcy, energy,real estate, environment, and labor and employment.Top Of PagePrinceton eComPrinceton eCom Corporation, 650 College Road,Princeton08540. Ronald W. Averett, president and COO. 609-924-1244; fax,609-924-1096.Home page: https://www.princetonecom.com.Princeton eCom Corporation put the brakes on its $46million initial public offering (IPO) but went ahead with itsexpansionfrom 15,000 feet at Research Park to the snazzy new building at 650College Road. It has 170 employees in 42,000 square feet. It is aleading provider of Internet bill publishing and payment servicesfor large businesses and financial institutions.”We clearly wanted to stay in the Princeton area and have amagnificentfacility,” says Ronald W. Averett, president and chief operatingofficer. “The Route 1 corridor is attractive for recruiting fromNew York City and Philadelphia, and the infrastructure here on theForrestal Campus is phenomenal.”The firm was founded as Princeton Telecom by former PrincetonUniversityphysics professor Donald Licciardello, who is CEO and owns a majorityshare. Billing Concepts, based in San Antonio, Texas, owns about onefifth of the 2.3 million existing shares.As an outsource solution for bill presentment and payment, PrincetoneCom has brand neutral products that allow customers to concentratepayments by phone, PC or network, and through an Internet billpublishingservice. Princeton eCom also operates a call center so that clientscan outsource customer service inquiries.Averett is waiting patiently for Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette toreissuethe IPO but declines to name the month when the prospectus will makeanother appearance. “It really is dependent on the market –to leverage the best time in the marketplace.”Top Of PageAppraising Business: Ray MoranIs Ernie worth more than Oscar? Should Big Bird costmore than Miss Piggy? Such are the tough questions that get sent toa corporate appraiser — Ray Moran, vice president of AmericanAppraisal Associates, an independent appraisal company. Heparticipatedin valuing the estate of Muppet creator Jim Henson, and the appraisershad to assign a value to each Muppet, character by character.Last month American Appraisal moved 40 employees from 6,200 feet at600 College Road to 12,000 square feet in Suite 1500 at the AegisProperty Group’s new building at 650 College Road. For such clientsas investment bankers, attorneys, private and public industry, andgovernment entities, the firm values corporations and corporateproperty.Whether for a celebrity such as Henson or Elvis Presley (yes, Moranhelped with the Presley estate valuation), American Appraisal willvalue the part of an estate that deals with corporate matters orfinancialinstruments.Founded in 1986 and privately owned, the firm is headquartered inMilwaukee and has 1,000 employees in 22 countrieshttps://www.american-appraisal.com.”American Appraisal is the only firm in our business that hasfull-time employees in different countries,” says Moran, “andwe have more business nationally than internationally.” When CrownCork & Seal, a Pennsylvania-based firm, acquired a French company,American Appraisal did all their valuation work in 200 locationsaroundthe world. Other clients for this office have included Bristol-MyersSquibb, Campbell Soup, Merck, Rhodia, and Hoechst.For mergers and acquisitions Moran can value the real estate,machineryand equipment, intellectual property — patents, trademarks, andformulas — and the businesses. “We have specialists in everyarea, including intangible assets,” says Moran. “Our majorcompetition comes from the big five accounting firms.”Ray Moran, 43, is a Staten Island native who followed his late father– also an appraiser with this firm — into the business. Hemajored in valuation sciences at Hofstra and joined American Appraisalstraight out of college. He is married to a Rutgers’ Douglassgraduate,and they have two children.Moran maintains a collegial relationship with the other valuationfirms in Princeton, such as Valuation Research on Nassau Park Drive,Valuation Counselors on Lenox Drive, and Management Planning on PoorFarm Road. “It is very common for two firms to be involved ina case,” says Moran, “one working for the local governmentbody and other working for the taxpayer. We also work with other localcompanies.”When KKR acquired RJR Nabisco American Appraisal had to value RJRNabisco and issue a solvency opinion on $20 billion debt to find outwhether the new entity could make a profit and pay off the debt.”Wedetermined it would be able to, and they did.””It is fascinating to get to work with different types ofindustriesand businesses,” says Moran. One of his more unusual assignmentswas to spend two weeks following two Ringling Brothers circus trains.The circus needed the appraisal because it was purchasing itself backfrom a conglomerate. So Moran and his cohorts had to establish, forinstance, not only the worth of the two trains and the equipment butalso what it would cost to replace each lion, tiger, or elephant.”We worked with the veterinarians to figure out the trainingcycle,how much time it would take to train the animal,” he says.”Therewere separate and distinct circuses, the red and the blue, and weneeded to see both units to be sure we understood the nature of theassets.”– Barbara FoxAmerican Appraisal Associates, 650 College RoadEast, Suite 1500, Princeton 08540-6624. Raymond E. Moran, vicepresident.609-452-2330; fax, 609-452-0734. Home page:https://www.american-appraisal.com.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
