OVG Real Estate has teamed up with Normandy Real Estate Partners to purchase, redevelop and extend Unilever's US headquarters in New Jersey. This will be OVG's first American real estate development project.
The Unilever office at 700 Sylvan Avenue in Englewood Cliffs, near Manhattan, currently has 30,000 m2 of floor space. OVG wants to extend the building to 38,400 m2. The purchase agreement stipulates that, following the transfer, Unilever will lease back the land and the building in an eighteen-year triple net contract. The transfer is expected to take place on 31 December 2016.
OVG chose to involve AKD in the transaction with Unilever in order to safeguard certain contractual parameters and to transition and apply them in accordance with US standards. This included a strong focus on "smart and sustainable", for which OVG and AKD developed a contract standard which is now being applied in the deal with Unilever. AKD worked closely with the US law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath in New York. AKD's team consisted of Julian Versmissen and Ramon Pasma.
The campus of 9 hectares is just outside New York on the Hudson and has been one of Unilever's head offices for fifty years. The sustainable extensions of the building will be the start of a major make-over which will turn the office into one of the most intelligent, energy-efficient and advanced headquarters on the East Coast. The new campus is expected to be ready by the end of 2017.
According to Kees Kruythoff, Unilever's CEO in North America, the redevelopment is primarily about the employees. 'We want to create a healthy and productive working environment for them, whilst at the same time minimising environmental pollution and providing our company with an opportunity for further growth. OVG is reputed for its development of sustainable, high-tech and smart work spaces.'
Coen van Oostrom, founder and CEO of OVG Real Estate, says that it is an honour to work with Unilever. 'We both have Dutch origins and are both passionate about innovation because we want to have a positive effect on the world around us. The project is a huge chance to put everything we have learned and made our own in Europe over past years into effect in America.'
OVG Real Estate has teamed up with Normandy Real Estate Partners to purchase, redevelop and extend Unilever's US headquarters in New Jersey. This will be OVG's first American real estate development project.
The Unilever office at 700 Sylvan Avenue in Englewood Cliffs, near Manhattan, currently has 30,000 m2 of floor space. OVG wants to extend the building to 38,400 m2. The purchase agreement stipulates that, following the transfer, Unilever will lease back the land and the building in an eighteen-year triple net contract. The transfer is expected to take place on 31 December 2016.
OVG chose to involve AKD in the transaction with Unilever in order to safeguard certain contractual parameters and to transition and apply them in accordance with US standards. This included a strong focus on "smart and sustainable", for which OVG and AKD developed a contract standard which is now being applied in the deal with Unilever. AKD worked closely with the US law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath in New York. AKD's team consisted of Julian Versmissen and Ramon Pasma.
The campus of 9 hectares is just outside New York on the Hudson and has been one of Unilever's head offices for fifty years. The sustainable extensions of the building will be the start of a major make-over which will turn the office into one of the most intelligent, energy-efficient and advanced headquarters on the East Coast. The new campus is expected to be ready by the end of 2017.
According to Kees Kruythoff, Unilever's CEO in North America, the redevelopment is primarily about the employees. 'We want to create a healthy and productive working environment for them, whilst at the same time minimising environmental pollution and providing our company with an opportunity for further growth. OVG is reputed for its development of sustainable, high-tech and smart work spaces.'
Coen van Oostrom, founder and CEO of OVG Real Estate, says that it is an honour to work with Unilever. 'We both have Dutch origins and are both passionate about innovation because we want to have a positive effect on the world around us. The project is a huge chance to put everything we have learned and made our own in Europe over past years into effect in America.'