Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. owns and manages the largest privately held commercial real estate portfolio in the United States, comprising approximately 200 properties and

Walter M. Smith, Jr., Executive Vice President of Operations for Hartz Mountain Industries

totaling more than 35 million sq. ft. (3.3 million sq. m.) in the northern New Jersey/New York area. Just over half of that footprint falls under the industrial heading, according to Walter M. Smith, Jr., executive vice president of operations for Hartz Mountain.
      "We offer services to a perspective client that we believe other firms can't," says Smith. "As a fully-integrated, full-service development company, we maintain in-house departments for leasing, management, finance, acquisition, architecture, construction, development, planning, marketing, design, and property management. We all can sit under one roof with a client and figure out together how to produce a facility to meet all of our client's needs."
      By controlling the development process from end-to-end, Hartz Mountain has some very satisfied clients, including Lantis Eyewear, Corporate Express, Panasonic, Inc., UPS, Calvin Klein, and Kenneth Cole, to name a few. These clients are not alone in their admiration of Hartz, which has been recognized by NJPA Real Estate Journal as the "Best Developer of 2004."
      One of Hartz's largest projects is Harmon Cove in Secaucus, N.J. Acquired by Hartz in 1969, this 750-acre (304-hectare) tract of barren land was often overlooked by others, thinking it was too difficult to build up and too risky to warrant investment. However, with vision, resources, and lots of talent, Hartz created roads, installed utilities, and a huge warehouse distribution park was developed. Today, Harmon Cove contains over 1,400 residential townhouses and high-rise luxury condos, more than 12 million sq. ft. (1.1 million sq. m.) of office and warehouse space, a wide variety of retail outlet stores, a 300-room hotel, and a 200-bed hospital. Located within Harmon Cove is Harmon Studio City, home to MSNBC's $65-million state-of-the-art production facility, developed by Hartz Mountain. In addition, Lantis Eyewear is settled into a 350,000-sq.-ft. (32,515-sq.-m.) distribution center and corporate office space, complete with a racking system with automatic forklift capability, and highly-advanced conveyor systems.
      "I submit that the advantage we have over others is that we can deliver a specialized facility with tremendous speed and efficiency," contends Smith. "Fast track is the norm for us. By having the capabilities in-house, we save our clients tremendous chunks of time."