UJA-NNJ sells River Edge building
UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey has sold its former River Edge headquarters, after almost a year on the market, to unidentified investors, relieving the organization of costs for the building’s upkeep.
The federation closed on its building at 111 Kinderkamack Road, which had been on the market since the organization’s move to Paramus in July, on May 18 for $1.7 million. The final price tag was less than federation leaders had hoped for but satisfactory, they said, in the current economic climate.
“We would imagine that in a different economic environment the price could have been higher,” said Howard Charish, UJA-NNJ’s executive vice president. “Given the circumstances, we are glad that it’s been sold.”
Proceeds from the sale will be put toward paying down the mortgage on the Paramus building.
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UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey last month sold its former River Edge headquarters. |
“We’ve been actively talking to real estate advisers and we believe we got a very fair price” for the River Edge building, said Alan Scharfstein, UJA-NNJ’s president. “If the market were different we would have gotten a different price, but the only thing we can do is deal with the reality of the market, and we think this is a very fair price.”
In addition to some mortgage relief, selling the building will save the federation what it had been paying for the building’s upkeep.
“Whenever you have an empty facility you’re paying utilities, keeping it heated,” Scharfstein said. “Clearly eliminating those is a big plus for the federation.”
Security concerns and a lack of space prompted the federation’s move. The River Edge building presented a particular security concern because of its support stilts and parking lot underneath. At 33,000 square feet, the new building is more than twice the size of the 16,000-square-foot River Edge building. Also, the new headquarters presented the federation with the opportunity for a new identity, according to its leaders.
When UJA Federation of Bergen & North Hudson merged with the Jewish Federation of North Jersey to create UJA-NNJ, the new entity occupied the former UJA’s River Edge offices. The federation moved to its Paramus location at 50 Eisenhower Drive after completing a series of renovations.
“We had a merger of two federations and we moved into either the mother or the father’s house. We didn’t move into our house,” former UJA-NNJ president Dan Silna told The Jewish Standard during last year’s move. “It’s not good to live with the parents. We needed an identity of our own. We needed a place our community could grow into and be proud of.”
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