Finance firm opts to stay in NJ.

Quick access to Manhattan and major transportation hubs were among the lures that kept financial services provider Daewoo Securities Inc. in Ridgefield Park, N J, and brought the firm to 65 Challenger Road, part of the Class A commercial complex known as Overpeck Centre.

"The tenant was attracted to the cost effectiveness of the location and its efficient layout," said Norman Baker, a managing principal with Newmark Knight Frank's New Jersey offices. He worked with Newmark Knight Frank Director Hope Brodsky in representing the landlord, Secaucus, N.J.-based Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. Daewoo, which was represented by Staubach & Co., leased 6,948 square feet of office space on the second floor at the 65 Challenger address.

The Daewoo announcement follows Newmark Knight Frank's appointment by Hartz Mountain Industries as the exclusive leasing agent for two of its major office properties in New Jersey--9 Entin Road in Parsippany and 65 Challenger Road in Ridgefield Park.

The Daewoo lease is the result of the positive marketing efforts on the part of Newmark Knight Frank team. Other leases signed include a 34,000-square-foot lease with Phibro Animal Health Corp., which relocated its operations in Fort Lee and Fairfield to the Ridgefield Park property, and a 14,000-square-foot transaction with Canon U.S.A., which relocated its offices from Englewood Cliffs. Daewoo relocated from nearby 85 Challenger Road.

Baker noted that a unique opportunity exists at the five-story, 167,391 s/f office facility. Two available floors, totaling 70,000 s/f of space, just came on the market.

Overpeck Centre sits on 60 acres in a waterfront setting and is just a 10-minute drive to the Lincoln Tunnel, five minutes from the George Washington Bridge, less than 12 miles from Newark International Airport and three miles from Teterboro Airport.

Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. owns and manages one of the largest privately held commercial real estate portfolios in the United States, comprised of approximately 200 properties and totaling 38 million square feet in the northern New Jersey/New York area.