Aventis Pharma leases all of Morris Corporate Center IV.

Aventis Pharma has signed a long-term lease for Morris Corporate Center IV, a 340,000 square-foot office building located within SJP Properties' Morris Corporate Center in Parsippany, NJ.

Aventis Pharma is the name of the proposed company that will result from the merger of Hoechst Marion Roussel and Rhone-Poulene Rorer, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The new location in New Jersey will be the company's interim North American headquarters, where more than 1,000 jobs will be relocated from offices in Kansas and Penn sylvania. The move will take place over the next several months.

"We are very excited about this office building, which meets our current space requirements and will allow us to move in according to our accelerated time frame," said Gerald P. Belle, president of Hoechst Marion Roussel/North America and designated president of North America Commercial Operations for the proposed new company.

The move to the new facility will occur in stages, with the first 100,000 square feet of space to be completed by February 2000, and the balance of the facility is to be completed by April 2000. Work is slated to begin soon on the organization's permanent location, which will, be in the Bridgewater, NJ area.

"We are pleased to welcome Aventis Pharma to the Morris Corporate Center," said Steven J. Pozycki, president of SJP Properties. "The company has presented us with an accelerated timetable in which to complete a complex build out of the building. The entire SJP organization looks forward to making the transition smooth and convenient.

"This is an enormous task to be accomplished in a very short time-frame, but it is critical that our new organization establish itself in its new location as quickly as possible," Belle said. "Aventis Pharma North America is key to the success of Aventis, and it is essential that we ensure the transition to our new company and our new location is as seamless as possible."

Phase I of Morris Corporate Center IV consists of two contiguous' buildings with floorplates ranging from 42,000 to 38,000 square feet.

The two-building complex is a part of the 182-acre Morris Corporate Center business campus which, when completed, will provide nearly 2.6 million square feet of offices on a beautifully landscaped site with fountains and ponds complementing the mature, wooded areas surrounding the buildings.

"The Parsippany site met our criteria," said Mark Shaw, director of General and Administrative Services for Hoechst Marion Roussel in North America and team leader for the headquarters project. "Aesthetically, it is a very attractive building with state-of-the-art mechanical and telecommunications systems, surrounded in a wooded; park-like setting."

While the natural beauty of Morris Corporate Center may suggest a more remote setting, its location is just one mile west of the four-way interchange. of Interstate 80, Inter state 287, and Route 202 and 46, with direct access to Interstate 80, Route 202 and Route 46. Only 30 miles west by car from New York City, New Jersey Transit's Boonton rail line stops in Mountain Lakes, just one mile from Morris Corporate Center. Newark International Airport is only 17 miles to the east, and Morristown Airport, used heavily by corporate executives, is just seven miles to the south.

"I've never seen a deal come together so quickly and so professionally," said S. Bleecker Totten, senior managing director of Insignia/ESG. "An experience like this demonstrates the benefit of working with professionals like SJP Properties. They have what it takes to help corporations transition quickly within this fast-paced marketplace."

This prime location will be fully utilized with the construction of Phase II of Morris Corporate Center IV, which is yet to be scheduled. Phase II will be a 350,000 square-foot replica of the first building that has been leased by Aventis Pharma.