Our Story
The management team at Kiwi Offices was the same management team that operated an office park in Hamilton (Mercer County) in central New Jersey, known locally as Ibis Plaza. The latter was a large class "B" office complex that catered to a second tier office user. In the 1980s and 1990s this office sector saw large size deals, a 50,000 to 100,000 square foot user was not unusual. However, over the years deals dwindled in size and today a 5,000 or 10,000 square foot deal is considered large for this class of space. The demand for office space basically mirrored the downsizing that took place in the workplace and the off-shoring of jobs to other countries over the last four decades. The lacklustre demand for office space was further exacerbated by the dawn of the digital economy where office workers could work in real time offshore. Then came Covid-19 which accelerated the work from home phenomenon and now as a culmination of all these factors we are seeing a glut in Class "B" and "C" office vacancies as leases expire. Many of these properties are worth significantly less today than they were 20 years ago.
After the 2008 financial crisis many office buildings were left with large vacancies. The team at Kiwi saw this as a long term trend and took this opportunity to reinvent their vacant spaces. Seeing there was still a large demand for small space they took the bull by the horns. At the time they had one large contiguous space, about 26,000 square feet, and designed an area with small offices. They added a shared break area, a conference room and marketed the new space as "Ibis Express Offices". The idea of small space was not new. Regus and many others have offered "executive offices" but these are typically high end spaces at premium prices and these providers are tenants themselves and offer licenses or contracts that are not leases.
In 2014 the team launched Ibis Express Offices and within a year the entire project was fully leased. They decided to roll out the concept and in 2015 purchased a very dated building in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. By 2016 the Mount Laurel location was retrofitted and re-branded as Kiwi Offices. It was a second generation design with two conference rooms and smaller offices. It was even more successful than Ibis Express Offices and in 2019 Kiwi began it's long term plan to expand and brand the concept by buying an old abandoned property in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The property, which consisted of two office buildings, was in total disrepair and an ideal candidate to convert into another Kiwi Offices. After numerous delays due to the pandemic the new location in Cherry Hill opened on April 17, 2023. The two story East Building, a third generation design, offers a mix of fifty offices, varying in sizes, with some interconnecting enabling tenants to expand. Kiwi is currently looking for another location in South Jersey. The Kiwi vision is to grow the business organically and to develop the brand, bringing life, functionality and prosperity to abandoned or old office properties to the South Jersey small business community.
Our Team
Christopher Jerjian
is a co-founder, principal, and former managing partner of Ibis Plaza Office Suites in Hamilton, New Jersey. Prior to selling Ibis Plaza, Mr. Jerjian founded Kiwi Offices™. He is currently responsible for development, marketing and leasing of the offices, and the promotion of the Kiwi brand. He is fully committed to his mission as he sees Kiwi Offices model as the future of suburban office space. Over the last 40 years, he has closed more than 450 deals with local, regional, and national companies for office space as a commercial landlord. From large multi-million dollar transactions with Fortune 500 companies to small independently owned businesses, there’s a good chance he has already worked with tenants whose needs are similar to yours. Being a small developer has seasoned and allowed Mr. Jerjian to experience the many facets of the business first hand. He is a graduate of Leicester University in the UK, with a B.A. in Economics and a Marketing Diploma from New York University and maintains a New Jersey Real Estate License with Wolf Commercial Real Estate.
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