Please note: Philip Ludeke was substantially responsible for the creation of this brochure in both layout and copy. He recently edited selected texts to reflect his current style of writing. Additionally, Ludeke was substantially involved with the management of the following projects highlighted in the brochure: Philadelphia Navy Yard, Cedarbridge Corporate Campus, WhiteOaks, Morris County
PICUS ASSOCIATES, INC. Picus Associates, Inc. was formed in 1993 by the principals of the Princeton office of the former K.S. Sweet Associates. Robert J. Wolfe, the President of Picus Associates, Inc., has managed the office since its creation. Therefore, he has a long history of assisting Princeton University in the development of Princeton Forrestal Center. He is also experienced in advising business corporations and non-profit institutions concerning their real estate holdings. What We Do Picus Associates advises owners and investors concerning the appropriate use of their real estate assets. While some of our assignments are purely consulting, the fact that we know how to implement a development program makes our advice realistic and effective. There are three essential components to success. Picus has a strong record in all three Picus helps its clients define their objectives. Picus evaluates the real estate, the market, and the regulatory environment. Picus formulates and implements strategies. Representative Assignments Picus Associates, and its predecessor firm, conceived of and developed 2200 acres of land owned by Princeton University. Today that land is a multi-use development that contains over 130 corporations and 14,000 employees. Picus Associates, and its predecessor firm, also helped Meridian Bank and The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies select a location for new corporate facilities. We have assisted Olin Corporation, Hercules, and Bristol-Myers Squibb in determining how best to maximize the value of existing land holdings. And we have helped Educational Testing Service, Rider University, the McDonogh School, and Colonial Williamsburg evaluate the potential commercial use of institutional land in a manner compatible with their ongoing missions. Why the name "Picus?" According to Roman mythology, Picus, the son of Saturn, was able to foretell the future. Various sources refer to him as a "country" or "woodland" god. As a real estate consulting firm with substantial experience in land development, Picus Associates, Inc. is valued by its clients for its ability to balance anticipated future human needs with a respect for the land and the environment.
PICUS ASSOCIATES, INC. SENIOR PROFESSIONAL STAFF Robert J. Wolfe, Princeton University (BA), Stanford University (MBA), is the founder of Picus Associates, Inc. Prior to forming his own company, he spent seventeen years as a managing partner of K. S. Sweet Associates. In both capacities Bob functioned as the master developer of Princeton Forrestal Center, Princeton University's 2,200 acre mixed use land development. The project contains housing, a retirement community, a shopping village, hotels, day care centers, and over 6 million square feet of research and office space with over 130 corporations. Bob managed the feasibility work and early development of three other large land developments totaling over 1,000 acres. He has accomplished numerous consulting assignments evaluating the feasibility of land development, creating and implementing marketing strategies, and restructuring non-performing assets. Bob served six years on his local planning board. He was appointed by the State of New Jersey to Chair its Advisory Committee on the future of the Route One Corridor and served as an advisor for Transportation 2020, the State s long term transportation master plan. He has served on the Boards of the Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce, McCarter Theatre, the Regional Planning Partnership (land use), The Land Use Municipal Resource Center (federally funded smart growth advocate), The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, and a local community service foundation. David H. Knights, Brown University (AB), Harvard (MBA), co-founded and was president of a real estate development and general contracting firm in Boston from 1980 until 1986. In 1986 David joined the Princeton office of K. S. Sweet Associates. As Director of Marketing for Princeton Forrestal Center, David has directed considerable activity in leasing and selling land for a variety of uses including a new child care center, a 153-room Courtyard by Marriott, a full service retirement community, a 220 unit apartment complex, and numerous corporate and speculative office buildings. In addition to Forrestal Center, David has been the project manager for a 200-acre mixed-use development adjacent to Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut, and has been involved in the conversion of a 25,000 square foot factory building into first class office space in Newtown Borough, Pennsylvania. Philip Ludeke, AIA, Drexel University (B.Arch.), is a registered architect. Phil has a wide range of experience with land planning, design, construction, land development, and real estate advisory services. His eighteen years experience practicing architecture, included multi-family and single family housing, ownership and management of a construction company, and large scale commercial and industrial projects. In 1989, Phil joined the real estate firm of a previous architectural client to take over project development of Horizon Center, a 155-acre, 1.5 million square foot, office park in central New Jersey.
While at Picus since 1992, Phil aided in the evaluation, repositioning, and sale of a 500- acre tract for a New York bank. He provided guidance to Rider University for the marketing and sale of land to a developer of an adult community. He founded and aided in the growth of a non-profit affordable housing developer in Trenton, NJ. Phil also managed the planning and approvals of a 200-acre mixed use commercial development in West Virginia. Phil s most recent assignments have included the planning, approvals and development of a 200-acre mixed-use development with a college in south-central New Jersey to include 1.5 million square feet of corporate office and R&D facilities, a hotel, commercial retail space, and age-restricted housing. He also aided in the planning and implementation of the conversion of the Philadelphia Navy Base into a mixed-use commercial development. Ludeke is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is Certified with the NCARB, is certified with the USGBC as a LEED Accredited Professional, and holds a NJ Real Estate License.
PICUS ASSOCIATES, INC. REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS PRINCETON FORRESTAL CENTER Picus Associates takes great pride in its long term relationship with Princeton University where we helped the University create and develop Princeton Forrestal Center, one of the most successful land developments in the United States. Princeton Forrestal Center is a 2,200 acre planned mixed-use development owned by Princeton University. Today, Forrestal Center contains 6 million square feet of corporate office and research space, 250,000 square feet of retail space, three hotels with a total of 753 rooms, an executive conference center, two day care centers, 820 housing units, and a full service retirement community. Potentially, it could accommodate 12 million square feet of corporate facilities. A portion of the land continues to house major University research facilities including the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. Over 130 companies and institutions are located at Forrestal Center with a total employee population of over 14,000. As is frequently the case with our clients, Princeton University had a multiplicity of objectives which needed to be refined and balanced before an effective program and strategy could be created. Princeton wished to protect the environment around its research campus, upgrade the quality of development in the region, attract companies which would be mutually supportive with the University, and provide a reasonable financial return on its investment. All of these objectives have been met or exceeded. When the project was first conceived in the mid-1970's, it was a pioneer in many areas including large scale mixed use planning, wetlands and watershed preservation, transportation planning, and design controls. It stimulated economic development in Central New Jersey and became the standard for high quality development in the region.
The principals of Picus Associates, Inc., and its predecessor firm, directed the original planning and market feasibility work. At this point, the analysis of the land and the market were brought together with cost projections into a strategic business plan including financial projections. With this information, the mix of uses and the projected timing of their development were integrated into a phasing plan for the construction of infrastructure and amenities. All of these variables were carefully orchestrated to produce a realistic, financially viable plan which was consistent with the breadth of Princeton's objectives. Once the strategic plan was completed, Princeton committed to the multidecade undertaking and retained the firm to implement the development of Princeton Forrestal Center. This entailed gaining all necessary governmental and regulatory entitlements with 25 year vesting; creating and executing marketing and public relations campaigns; negotiating all transactions; and managing the design and construction of all the necessary roads and utilities, which were carefully phased to reduce Princeton's financial exposure. Over $40 million has now been spent on sewer and water distribution systems, electric, gas, communications infrastructure, and roads, including a new overpass to the highway which bisects the project. Picus Associates continues to be responsible for managing
all aspects of the development including governmental relations, marketing, enforcement of the design controls, construction of expanded roads and infrastructure, and the provision of the numerous services demanded by this small city. PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD Picus is currently working with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) to implement the conversion of the Philadelphia Navy Yard into a commercial mixed-use development which will include in excess of 4 million square feet of Class A office, R&D and distribution facilities, a hotel, marina, retail, active and passive recreation, and 600-1,000 housing units. Picus specific assignment has been to strategize and advise PIDC concerning the privatization of the development process. This has been done through a series of steps with PIDC to clarify and articulate its objectives; manage a broad conceptual master planning effort with other consultants to determine land uses, densities, and priorities; and identify and recommend strategies for implementation of Phase One. The result of this process was to determine that the first phase of development should be sixty acres, strategically located to benefit future development, and to create an RFQ for broad distribution. The RFQ sought expressions of interest and qualifications from developers who would be given the option rights to the sixty acres in exchange for a commitment to build the first building on speculation to get the development started. Picus worked closely with PIDC to select a short list of developers who were then given the opportunity to respond to a detailed RFP. The finalists were then ranked and a contract was successfully negotiated. The final contract required the developer to commit to a joint master planning effort with PIDC that will culminate in an overall plan for the total development and very definitive plans for the first sixty acres. By the end of this second planning effort in August 2003 the developer will have approvals from PIDC for its first phase of work and PIDC will be poised to provide infrastructure as needed and to market other areas of the overall development. There are many decisions yet to be made for the implementation of this large undertaking, but a solid private/public partnership has been established through a public process to assure the success of the early phases.
CEDARBRIDGE CORPORATE CAMPUS This 400-acre property was identified for redevelopment by the Township of Lakewood in Ocean County, NJ in 1988. It sat idol for ten years until the township published a request for proposals from developers. Picus was hired as the project manager by the Cedarbridge Development Urban Renewal Corporation to respond to the proposal in the summer of 2000. Picus put together a team of professionals who master planned a mixed-use development including a 1.5 million square foot corporate campus, a hotel and support retail, and 140 units of agerestricted housing. Since the signing of a contract to purchase the land in June 2001, Picus has gained all local, county and state approvals, negotiated road improvements by public entities, obtained grants for much of the infrastructure improvements, managed the team through significant public relations issues, and hired a construction manager to build the infrastructure beginning in the fall of 2003. The assignment has also included strategizing the phasing and business proformas for Cedarbridge to assure minimal capital investment. This included marketing for and negotiating with a housing developer to purchase the land for that component and marketing to building developers to develop individual parcels. Because the land is designated redevelopment land by the township, the assignment has also included creation of new zoning to accommodate the development and significant interface with government to accomplish infrastructure improvements. WHITEOAKS, BRIDGEPORT, WEST VIRGINIA Picus Associates was retained by the owner of 225 acres in West Virginia, approximately 100 miles south of Pittsburgh, shortly after the FBI announced that it planned to build an international fingerprint analysis facility on adjacent land. The land fronts on, but did not have access to, Interstate 79. We were asked to create a development strategy for the land which included: an analysis of the market; a development program; a land plan; extensive financial projections; a financing strategy; and an implementation plan. Today, the project has an approved mixed-use master plan for residential, office, retail and hotel development. As a result of our work with the State Highway Department, the new interchange with I-79 was not only constructed to provide access to the FBI facility, but also provides access to WhiteOaks. The land has been annexed into the City of Bridgeport to gain access to sewer and water systems. The project is now in the early marketing stage in anticipation of completion of the road and utility access.
MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY Retained by a subsidiary of a New York bank, which had taken title to a 500 acre tract of land, Picus' assignment was to manage the property, and to advise its institutional client on how to realize the maximum value of the land. The property had been planned for development over a 7-year period, ending in failure of the previous owner's efforts. First, Picus took inventory and assessed the asset, including market conditions and approvals. After establishing a physical maintenance plan, it set about evaluating the site and its complex approvals. The community water system was revitalized, plans were established for the renovation and expansion of a non-functioning on-site sewer treatment plant, and a course of action was established to complete missing approvals. Picus negotiated with the local municipal government, various state agencies, and local special interest groups to position the property for disposal. Simultaneously, it created and implemented a marketing program. The property was sold to a residential developer for a 200 acre single family clustered development, with the remaining 300 acres permanently preserved as open space. 200 ACRE OFFICE PARK, BALTIMORE COUNTY, MARYLAND 650 ACRE MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT, READING, PENNSYLVANIA Bob Wolfe was involved in the planning and early development of these two projects as the managing partner of land development at K.S. Sweet Associates. One project is owned by a private school and the other by a publicly traded corporation. In both cases, the firm analyzed the market, the site, and the owner's objectives to create a development program and strategy for implementation. In both cases, the firm was hired to complete the planning, gain the necessary approvals, build the roads and infrastructure, and market the projects to corporations and developers.
PICUS ASSOCIATES, INC. REPRESENTATIVE CLIENT LIST* Bristol-Myers Squibb Cedarbridge Development Corporation Coburn Family Interests Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Educational Testing Service Lawrenceville School Lakewood Beth Medrash Govoha Legg Mason Real Estate Services McDonogh School Meridian Bank Olin Corporation Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation Princeton University Princeton University Press Rider University Rochester Community Savings Bank Sarnoff Corporation Simpson Family Interests Wm. Sword & Company *Clients served by Picus Associates, Inc. or by principals of K. S. Sweet Associates who are now with Picus Associates, Inc.