The Principals of RE | Solutions (RES) were responsible for the acquisition and repositioning of the former National Envelope Corporation (NEC) property, located in Union, NJ. This was an approximately 15-acre industrial facility located adjacent to a New Jersey Transit rail line into Manhattan, and less than ½ mile from a new commuter rail terminal. 

The property became available as a result of the bankruptcy of NEC. Initial due diligence revealed that the property was “upside down,” and that there was significant risk associated with the need to rezone the property from industrial to residential. Efforts to acquire the property in Chapter 11 bankruptcy ceased when the administrative funding was exhausted and the case converted to Chapter 7. Faced with the likelihood of Chapter 7 abandonment of the property, representatives of the U. S. Department of Justice reached out to the RES principals to request that they continue their efforts to acquire the property.

The RES principals worked with the trustee to create an acquisition structure pursuant to Section 363 of the U. S. Bankruptcy Code that was contingent upon: 1) agreement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to limit the remediation to removal of the on-site source of contamination; and 2) to close only after residential rezoning was approved by Union Township.

A cooperative remedial planning and rezoning process with the NJDEP and Union Township resulted in the regulatory negotiations and re-zoning being completed in less than six months. Following acquisition of the property, RES principals managed the building abatement and demolition, remediation of the site and regulatory closure. The property was sold in 2014 to local developers for construction of both for-sale and for-rent residences.