Developers buy Elizabeth property, prospective development site, for $2.9 million – Real Estate NJ

655 Pennsylvania Ave. in Elizabeth — Courtesy: Gebroe-Hammer Associates

By Joshua Burd

A development team has entered Union County with its purchase of a one-acre commercial property in Elizabeth, according to a broker with Gebroe-Hammer Associates.

The New York City-based partnership, which includes GZL Real Estate and The Chars Group, paid $2.9 million for the parcel at 655 Pennsylvania Ave. Gebroe-Hammer’s Stephen Tragash represented the seller while arranging the deal on behalf of the joint venture, noting that the site is currently home to an office, a showroom and a 100-space parking lot for Preferred Auto Sales, a preowned auto dealership, but is a prospective development property.

It marks GZL and Chars Group’s 10^th acquisition in New Jersey.

“Since 2020, GZL and Chars have been expanding their portfolio holdings to include assets throughout the North Jersey metro, due to the market’s strong fundamentals and positioning as an extension of New York City as well as its extensive highway and transit network,” said Tragash, an executive vice president with Livingston-based Gebroe-Hammer. “The buyer plans to maintain the cash-producing site as-is for the foreseeable future, with the possibility of future development.”

The joint venture’s portfolio also includes properties in Hudson, Essex and Passaic counties, Gebroe-Hammer said. Its latest acquisition sits across the street from NJ Transit’s North Elizabeth Station, offering 28-minute rail service to New York City, and is in the heart of Elizabeth’s Urban Enterprise Zone.

The brokerage firm added that Pennsylvania Avenue runs parallel to Newark Avenue, a major thoroughfare connecting North Broad Street and Frelinghuysen Avenue, and is two miles from Newark Liberty International Airport, Port Newark-Elizabeth, the Goethals Bridge and The Mills at Jersey Gardens outlet mall.

“Northern New Jersey is an important hub of New York City, which has been the catalyst for our expansion within this market,” GZL Real Estate’s Benjamin Katz said. “Given the market’s strategic location, the third-largest population density in the U.S. and long-term fundamentals that are propping up the market, we are pleased to expand our holdings to include the 655 Pennsylvania Avenue investment property.

“Elizabeth is one of northern New Jersey’s primary cities on the rise and we are grateful to Steve, who has earned the title of go-to broker-of-choice here, for bringing this opportunity to us.”