Roche to Sell 116-Acre, Nutley, NJ Campus to PB Nutclif I, LLC

14 July 2016

Roche to Sell 116-Acre, Nutley, NJ Campus to PB Nutclif I, LLC

~Seton Hall University and Hackensack Meridian Health Network ink long-term lease for new medical school ~

NUTLEY, NJ, BLOOMFIELD, NJ, HACKENSACK, NJ – July 14, 2016 – Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche) announced today that it will sell its sprawling, 116-acre campus, located in the Township of Nutley and City of Clifton, New Jersey, to PB Nutclif I, LLC, an affiliate of locally-based Prism Capital Partners, LLC  (Prism). Roche and Prism have signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement that will enable the transfer of the former Roche North American Pharmaceuticals headquarters to Prism by September 30, 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

In addition, Seton Hall University and Hackensack Meridian Health, today, entered into a long-term lease with Prism to lease two major R&D buildings and 16 acres on the site. The lease enables Hackensack Meridian Health and Seton Hall University to move forward with their plans for a private medical school and a world-leading, National Health Institute-designated Clinical Research Center on the former Roche campus. Seton Hall also plans to co-locate its College of Nursing and School of Health and Medical Sciences with the new School of Medicine.

Transfer of the Roche site is contingent upon completion of the necessary financial and development approvals, for Prism, Hackensack Meridian Health and Seton Hall University, by the local municipalities before September 30.

“The sale of the Roche Nutley site was complex due to simultaneous discussions between four parties and many stakeholders. However, it was important for Roche to sell the property to a qualified developer, while also ensuring that the proposed medical and health sciences campus could become a reality,” said Tom Lyon, Vice President and Site Head, Roche Nutley. “The sale, along with the signing of a long-term lease for the medical and health sciences campus, will enable the local communities to begin to envision a new landscape, possibilities for redevelopment, jobs and ratables. Overall, this is a positive step both locally for the communities of Nutley and Clifton as well as regionally, for New Jersey. This is truly a success on all levels.”

“Following more than 22 months of comprehensive diligence and complex negotiations, Prism is delighted to have reached this important transactional milestone,” noted Prism’s Eugene Diaz, principal partner. “With the cooperation of Roche, we have secured an outstanding long-term anchor tenant and new business magnet for this campus in Hackensack Meridian Health and Seton Hall University. Now, we are looking forward to working closely with the City of Clifton and the Township of Nutley to create a new future for this property as a mixed use site for live, work and play. We are confident that our vision of repositioning the campus with a ‘new urbanist’ philosophy will attract numerous corporate and research users and, once again, create a unique business location of uncompromised quality and distinction.”

“Hackensack Meridian Health is pleased to partner with Prism for the long-term lease that will provide a world-class campus for our school of medicine with Seton Hall University,” said Robert C. Garrett, co-CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. “The state-of-the-art facilities and optimal location of the site will undoubtedly help to make our medical school one of the best in the country, and provide our region with a much-needed economic boost.”

Following the site transfer later this year, Roche will retain responsibility for the environmental remediation of the property. The clean-up of soils on the site is substantially complete and Roche has initiated several interim remedies to clean up groundwater. Roche continues to work closely with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) on the final plan for the groundwater cleanup. For more information on the remediation, visit www.roche-nutley.com

About Roche
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives.

Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.

Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. Twenty-nine medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Roche has been recognised as the Group Leader in sustainability within the Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences Industry seven years in a row by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.

The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2015 employed more than 91,700 people worldwide. In 2015, Roche invested CHF 9.3 billion in R&D and posted sales of CHF 48.1 billion. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com. (For Nutley, visit www.roche-nutley.com)

About Prism Capital Partners
Headquartered in Bloomfield, N.J., Prism Capital Partners is an experienced real estate investment company with a proven track record of creating value through select real estate investments and developments. Geographically focused in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Prism specializes in identifying, acquiring and creating unique, value-added opportunities in the office, retail, industrial and residential sectors. The company invests with institutional and private capital sources that rely on Prism’s ability to think “outside the box,” and to identify and realize the highest value potential in all sized real estate endeavors. For more information about Prism and its projects, please visit www.prismpartners.net.

About Hackensack Meridian Health

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.  Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 13 hospitals, including two academic medical centers, two children’s hospitals and nine community hospitals, physician practices, more than 120 ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 28,000 team members, more than 6,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.                          

The Network’s notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, the number one hospital in New Jersey as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Health Care” in the nation, and the number one “Best Place to Work for Women.”  Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

The hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health include: academic medical centers - HackensackUMC in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; community hospitals -  Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, HackensackUMC Mountainside in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in Westwood.
To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.

About Seton Hall University

One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall University has been developing students in mind, heart and spirits since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hal’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Business.

Seton Hall, which embraces students of all religions, prepares its graduates to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, the University has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth in addition to an impressive 95-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have been awarded nearly 20 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors including a Rhodes Scholar. In the past five years, the University has invested more than $134 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall launched a new School of Medicine as well as a new College of Communication and the Arts.

A founding member of the new Big East Conference, the Seton Hall Pirates field 14 NCAA Division I varsity sports teams. The University’s beautiful main campus is located in suburban South Orange, New Jersey, and is only 14 miles from New York City – offering its students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. The University’s nationally recognized School of Law is prominently located in downtown Newark. For more information, visit www.shu.edu

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

Contacts:          
Darien E. Wilson, Roche
973.562.2232
Darien_e.wilson@roche.com                   

Evelyn Weiss Francisco, Caryl Communications Inc.
201.796.7788
evelyn@caryl.com            

Nancy Radwin, Hackensack Meridian Health
531.996.3966
 Nancy.Radwin@HackensackUMC.org