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THE recent announcement by DKM Properties Corp. that it will shortly begin construction of a sprawling new office park in Mount Laurel signals the entry of one of Central New Jersey's major real estate and development firms into the Greater Philadelphia-area marketplace.
Although just five years old, DKM has grown up rapidly. The present holdings of DKM and its affiliated partnerships include more than 30 operating properties totaling 6.6 million square feet of commercial, retail, and industrial space. The firm also has 12 office, industrial, retail, and residential projects currently under development, which will yield an additional 2.7 million square feet of space.
DKM was co-founded by Ronald Berman and the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp., a private investment group in New York City. The company maintains its corporate offices at the Princeton Pike Corporate Center in suburban Lawrenceville.
Although Bishops Gate, the proposed Mount Laurel project, is not DKM's first venture into Southern New Jersey/Southeastern Pennsylvania -- the company has projects in Cherry Hill and Lester, Delaware County -- it is certainly the biggest and most ambitious. Current plans for the 179-acre site, located on Route 38 and Briggs Road, call for a 1.8 million-square-foot office park, including a day-care facility and full-service hotel, to be built at an estimated cost of $270 million. Three major traffic arteries lie immediately nearby: Route 38, Interstate 295, and the New Jersey Turnpike. Corporate neighbors include the Ford Motor Co., Travelers Mortgage Co., and Midlantic National Bank.
Preliminary subdivision and final site approvals had been previously obtained by the group that initially assembled the land. If all goes according to plan, DKM hopes to break ground by mid-1990.
The acquisition of the Bishops Gate site, formerly known as the Rosewood Corporate Center, fulfills DKM's desire to establish itself in the...