In With The New: Ridgewood's Tallest Office Building Gets Fresh Start

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — A fledgling real estate development pair is bringing new life to Ridgewood’s tallest building.

Kalypso Media's Theresa Merino puts the company sign on her new office door in Ridgewood's Lincoln Building.
Photo Credit: *Cecilia Levine*

Construction is underway on the first, second, third and fourth floors.
Photo Credit: *Cecilia Levine*

Connor Bruggemann of Investor's Corner hangs out in his 5th floor office.
Photo Credit: *Cecilia Levine*

02/09/2016 5:00 a.m.

Anthony Rinaldi and Mark Konarsky of Saxum Real Estate Partners acquired the nearly 60-foot Lincoln Building — the site of Daily Voice's New Jersey headquarters — in January 2015.

Located across from the train station on North Broad Street, the landmark -- among the village's few traditional office structures -- offered a unique investment opportunity to create “loft-boutique office space,” Rinaldi said.

“We focus on acquiring assets that are located in transit-oriented, downtown markets with the '24/7 lifestyle,' -- places where people want to walk out of the office and grab lunch or drinks and then hop on the train to Manhattan," Rinaldi said.

"We enter projects being extremely well-capitalized, allowing us to quickly reposition the assets through substantial building renovations," he said.

Occupants include:

First Floor: Nazli Tailoring; The Quilt Spot (both longtime tenants); executive office-space renter Serendipity Labs
Second, Third Floors: Serendipity Labs
Fourth Floor: commercial and music video production company Aggressive.TV; open office space remains toward front of building
Fifth Floor: Daily Voice, German video game developer and publisher Kalypso Media; 18-year-old Connor Bruggemann of Investor’s Corner

Construction on the first four floors is expected to be completed by the end of March, Rinaldi said.

Until then, Nazli Ingilizyan of Nazli Tailoring will be keeping her clothes upstairs to avoid "the mess" that construction has made.

"It's not bad," she said. "I like my place and I have to work, but [Rinaldi] takes good care of me."

The project has been a "learning experience," Rinaldi said.

Investor's Corner Founder Connor Bruggemann appreciates how the building is developing.

"I really think it's cool how all or the majority of the companies in [the Lincoln Building] are online-based," he said. "It really shows how the Internet is the hottest destination for new companies."

Rinaldi said there will be inevitable "growing pains" while the building is transformed, but it will all be worth it.

"We will have a great product," Rinaldi said.

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