Acquisitions Across Northern New Jersey Reflect a Disciplined Approach to Value-Add Industrial Real Estate
“For me, it’s about knowing the property, understanding the risk and knowing your numbers,” Feldman said. “You do the work upfront, figure out the number that makes sense and make your offer. Once you commit to it, you stand behind it.”
That approach has helped guide Legacy’s continued focus on underutilized and fatigued real estate, particularly value-add industrial properties where experience, flexibility and the ability to solve problems can create opportunity.
Over the past year, Legacy and its partners, Sal Frassetto of Saddleback Real Estate Developers and Commerce Park Investors, have completed a number of acquisitions throughout Northern New Jersey including the 126,108-square-foot former Casio headquarters in Dover; 611 Union Boulevard, a 26,630-square-foot industrial property in Totowa; two Moonachie industrial properties totaling 29,626 square feet; and the 11,704-square-foot commercial building situated on 3.7 acres of an industrial outdoor storage yard at 801 East Edgar Road in Linden.
For Feldman, the ability to move decisively on opportunities starts before an offer is ever submitted.
“My ability to underwrite these deals and figure out a price that we can purchase at, and be successful, is something I’m able to do relatively quickly,” Feldman said. “That’s why we’re able to stand by our numbers, because there are no surprises down the road. All that analysis has happened up front before we give our asking price.”
It is an approach rooted in Feldman’s own personality.
“I’m a very direct, straightforward, like-it-or-not type of guy, and I think I bring that to my business,” he said. “I’m not afraid to tell people things they don’t want to hear, not afraid to be honest and direct.”
In a business where negotiations can continue long after a property is under contract, Feldman sees that directness as an advantage. Legacy works to determine what it can pay before entering a transaction rather than making an aggressive initial offer and attempting to renegotiate later.
“We don’t retrade,” Feldman said. Legacy targets value-add properties with a clear understanding that physical improvements and construction costs may be part of the investment from the outset.
That certainty can be particularly important to sellers looking for more than simply the highest offer.
According to Feldman, the former Casio headquarters is one example. Multiple prospective buyers were in the running for the property, making Legacy’s ability to demonstrate that it had the capital and ability to complete the transaction an important differentiator.
“I had to sell us as reliable,” Feldman said. “Basically, the whole point was reassuring the seller that we, A, have the capital and, B, will close.”
Legacy ultimately acquired the property in an all-cash transaction in October 2025.
Finding Value Others May Overlook
Legacy’s ability to move quickly is supported by decades of experience in the Northern New Jersey industrial market. The company’s portfolio includes nearly two million square feet of industrial space giving Feldman and his partners extensive familiarity with the buildings, infrastructure and challenges common to the region.
“We know this market,” Feldman said. “Industrial in Northern New Jersey has been our business for a long time.”
That familiarity can become particularly valuable when a property presents zoning or entitlement challenges that may deter other buyers.
Legacy has appeared before boards of adjustment five times during a recent six- to seven-month period and received approvals in all five instances, according to Feldman.
“The barrier for the entitlements has been a good market advantage for us,” he said.
Rather than undertaking significant construction, at the former Casio building, Legacy created value through the entitlement process, securing parking and site plan variances that allowed the property to be used to the new occupants’ intent.
“On Casio, our value-add was the entitlement,” Feldman said.
At other properties, the strategy may be more physical. In Moonachie, Legacy has focused on improving the condition and appearance of the property to make it more attractive to prospective owner-users.
“For a lot of these users, they’re not looking at the real estate as an investment,” Feldman said. “They’re looking at it as a home for their business.”
Relationships That Extend Beyond the Closing
Feldman also credits Legacy’s relationships throughout the brokerage community with helping the firm source opportunities and bring properties back to market.
“Our primary model is if you bring me a property and I buy it, you’re my guy on the property,” Feldman said. “You have the exclusive. You get to help me sell it.”
The approach gives brokers an opportunity to remain involved beyond the initial acquisition while providing Legacy access to a broad network of professionals with buyers, tenants and properties in the market.
It is part of a larger reputation Feldman believes has become increasingly valuable: when Legacy says it will do something, it intends to follow through.
Looking Ahead
As Feldman enters his second year as president, he sees little reason to abandon the strategy that has driven Legacy’s recent activity. The company plans to continue targeting reasonably priced value-add industrial real estate throughout Northern New Jersey, with a particular focus on properties of approximately 60,000 square feet and below.
“We want to work. We want to make money. We want to do deals,” he said. “But we can also pass on them if they’re not right.”
How long the current opportunity lasts is impossible to predict. But Feldman believes Northern New Jersey’s location and infrastructure continue to give the industrial market significant staying power.
“The market is cyclical,” Feldman said. “But luckily, the Northern New Jersey market between the ports and New York City and Routes 80 and 95, I think, has a really long runway on its current market conditions.”
For Feldman, that means year two begins much the way year one did: looking for the next property where Legacy’s experience, ability to execute and willingness to tackle the challenges others may avoid can create value.
For inquiries regarding other properties, contact Legacy Real Estate Developers at contact@TheLegacyRE.com.
About Legacy Real Estate Developers
Legacy Real Estate Developers is a Fairfield, New Jersey–based commercial real estate firm specializing in the acquisition, redevelopment, and management of high-potential properties across the region. Built on the Frassetto family’s foundation of trust and performance, Legacy merges deep market experience with modern strategy to deliver long-term value and community impact.