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EAST HANOVER − Nothing was going to get the 12 seniors of Hanover Park baseball off the field.

Nothing but the incoming lightning, that is.

An abbreviated celebration on the field spilled into the school's auxiliary gym, and pictures were taken under a basketball hoop instead of near home plate. Regardless of the change in scenery, the Hornets enjoyed one more victory at home on Friday, a 10-0 win over Rutherford in the North 2, Group 2 baseball sectional final.

Despite the big margin, it was actually small ball that put Hanover Park ahead early on.

In each of the first two innings, the Hornets had a leadoff hitter reach base, get sacrificed over to second base and come around to score. Mark Ruccio scored on a sacrifice fly for the first run, while Jack Massarano scored on a wild pitch that gave the Hornets a 2-0 lead through two innings.

"We work on bunting all the time," coach Doug Wear said. "We will bring out the machine and gas it up to about 85 or 90 and just work on bunts. People don't like to bunt anymore, but we knew if we were gonna beat a team like Rutherford, we would need to do the little things and do them right."

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Hanover Park broke through, batting around to score five runs and drive Rutherford starter Sam Kelly out of the game. With one run home and the bases loaded with two away, consecutive two-RBI doubles by Alex Cheringal and Joe LoPinto gave the Hornets a 7-0 cushion.

LoPinto did the rest on the mound, coming in during the second inning to relieve starter Toby Smith on a low pitch limit. LoPinto threw 66 pitches across 3⅓ innings, getting Hanover Park through the fifth inning with a commanding 9-0 advantage.

What it means

It's the second title in three years for Hanover Park. But despite returning 12 seniors, the preseason outlook was not great after losing last spring in the sectional final.

The Hornets entered the season without some impactful players, but the current group of upperclassmen made an impact as the team went undefeated in the NJAC Liberty division and did not lose a single home game all season.

As for what is next, Hanover Park moves on to Monday's Group 2 semifinals to face Pascack Hills with a trip to the next weekend's Group 2 final at stake. In their final game on their home field Friday, Wear reflected upon the impact of his senior class.

"They're part of an era," Wear said. "It's the last game they'll ever play on this field so when they ever come back here, they'll know they left with some hardware."

Key play

Rutherford threatened all afternoon, leaving 13 runners on base without being to plate any of them. The greatest threat came with the bases loaded in the top of the third inning, trailing 2-0. Junior Cole Goumas laced a ball to right-center field but senior Charlie Rafanello was playing the shift and was able to slide for an attempt at the catch.

"My glove is really old, so I couldn't feel if it was in my glove at first," Rafanello said. "When I saw that it was there, I got hyped."

Rafanello's sliding grab kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard and preserved the Hanover Park lead. Rutherford did not have another batter reach third base again until the sixth inning.

"It's so euphoric," Rafanello said. "It's an individual moment and you don't know at the time how big it's going to be in terms of the entire game."

Game ball

Senior Joe LoPinto was going to be handed the ball on Friday, but got it a little earlier than expected as Smith was unable to fend off fatigue. A Canisius commit, LoPinto faced Rutherford for the first time since last season's sectional semifinals, when he struck out 11 and held the Bulldogs to two runs on seven hits in a complete game.

LoPinto stabilized the game and and let the Hanover Park offense stand up, allowing four hits in 3⅓ innings, striking out four and keeping Rutherford off the board to earn the win in relief.

"Joe is our strike thrower," Wear said. "He threw in the Group 2 final for us two years ago as a sophomore and we have been fortunate to ride him and Toby as a 1-2 punch for three years now."

LoPinto also laced a two-run double to cap off a five-run inning for the Hornets to put the game out of reach in his final home game. LoPinto was quick to rank this game atop his accomplishments in Hanover Park.

"It's gotta be No. 1," LoPinto said. "I've been playing with some of these guys since we were 6 years old, so to do this with them, there's nothing like it."

They said it

"It's very emotional. There's no words. It's hard to explain what these guys mean to me." − Hanover Park senior Joe LoPinto.

"Our team is so bonded. We don't leave the diamond and stop being friends. We're best friends everywhere. It's great to win anywhere, but it's special to do it in your home town with your best friends." − Hanover Park senior Charlie Rafanello.

In New Jersey’s largest industrial sale of the year, retail REIT Urban Edge Properties has sold a 1.2 million-square-foot, seven-building portfolio in East Hanover, N.J., for $217.5 million. The buyer was an investment fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing together with Saxum Real Estate, its operator and manager. JLL Capital Markets brokered the transaction.

The deal was structured as part of a 1031 exchange transaction used to partially fund the $309 million acquisition of two Boston-area shopping centers totaling nearly 1.4 million square feet—Gateway Center in Everett, Mass., and Shoppers World in Framingham, Mass.—from SITE Centers. Urban Edge funded the remaining balance of the purchase with its line of credit.

READ ALSO: What’s Ahead for Industrial?

The sale of the industrial portfolio, located in Morris County, is part of the company’s strategy of acquiring high-quality retail real estate with future growth potential. The REIT, which owns and operates 76 properties totaling 17.2 million square feet, is actively negotiating the disposition of more than $100 million of non-core assets.

A Northern New Jersey industrial portfolio

Located at 901, 903-906, 601 Murray Road and 151 Ridgedale Ave., the light industrial portfolio is spread across seven buildings that were fully leased at the time of sale by a total of 13 tenants. Key features include an average clear height of 21 feet and 945 total parking spaces.

The properties are in the high barrier-to-entry and supply-constrained market of Northern New Jersey. One of the properties, 151 Ridgedale Ave., was acquired in October 2021. The 187,013-square-foot Paper Mart warehouse and distribution center had originally been owned by Urban Edge’s predecessor, Vornado Realty Trust. Vornado spun off Urban Edge into a separate company in January 2015. Vornado had sold the 9.17-acre property to Paper Mart in 1978. Purchasing the site back from Paper Mart in 2021 gave Urban Edge ownership of all the commercial assets on the block.

The Morris County submarket is the fourth largest submarket in Northern New Jersey, representing more than 33.4 million square feet of industrial space.

Arranged by JLL

JLL Capital Markets arranged the deal, representing the seller and procuring the buyer. The Investment Sales and Advisory team was led by Jose Cruz, Marc Duval, Jordan Avanzato, Nick Stefans, Jason Lundy and Austin Pierce.

In another recent transaction, three JLL brokers secured a $869 million financing package for an 11.4 million-square-foot industrial portfolio. The fully leased properties have an average completion date of 2020.

New Vernon Equities is building up its Arena complex in East Hanover, adding a 17-acre parcel newly acquired from Novartis.

The Morristown-based commercial real estate developer and investor announced the acquisition of 135 Route 10 Nov. 2. According to the firm, the 150,000-square-foot office building will be redeveloped for science and technology users.

“We are thrilled to become a part of one of Morris County’s premier sites and continue our focus on top tier science and technology property development,” Peter Gilpatric, head of development for NVE, said in a statement.

Regarding the repositioning efforts, NVE noted the strength of Morris County for serving smaller office, labs and light manufacturing tenants. With redevelopment work already under way, Gilpatric told NJBIZ in a statement that the property is actively being marketed.

NVE’s Arena is centered on, now, three East Hanover buildings. Gilpatric said the firm envisions the campus as a more than 200,000-square-foot 21st Century workplace with a focus on science, technology and innovation.

The new addition 135 Route 10 is complemented by 30 and 31 Farinella Drive. The former is a 75,000-square-foot biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility fully leased to GenScript ProBio, according to NVE. Currently under development, 31 Farinella Drive is expected to deliver 50,000 square feet of high tech/science space by the end of 2023.

In March, the East Hanover Land Use Planning Board voted to deny an application from Novartis to subdivide approximately 17 acres for sale at the corner of Route 10 and Ridgedale Avenue. At the time, New Jersey Hills reported that Novartis East Hanover Site Head Gregory Struckus said during the March 23 meeting that the company had entered into a memorandum of understanding with NVE for the property.

NVE declined to comment on the impact the denial had on the purchase process. In a statement accompanying news of the acquisition, Gilpatric spoke positively about its work with the municipality and the seller.

“Our strong working relationship with the Township of East Hanover Township and Novartis allows us to collaborate in making this part of the Township a work, play, learn hub for ideas and innovation within a 21st Century workplace,” he said.

Evolving needs

“Novartis continues to transform the East Hanover, N.J., campus to ensure we are using our office spaces as effectively as possible. As part of this initiative, we have divested an additional 17 of our 140 acres on the east side of the campus, including one office building,” the Swiss pharmaceutical giant told NJBIZ in a statement.

The transformation of the working space at Novartis’s East Hanover U.S. headquarters pairs with an “ongoing organizational evolution” across the company. At the end of the summer, Novartis disclosed plans to lay off 130 employees in East Hanover, which serves as its U.S. headquarters. That followed news from the end of 2022 that the company would cut 285 jobs at the site.

“Our efforts to transform the East Hanover campus are part of a multiyear, worldwide Novartis global initiative to improve and adapt work environments in many of our larger sites,” Novartis added. “The work we are undertaking will also enable us to become more responsible with our footprint today and in the future.”

That idea was echoed by remarks Struckus made at the March planning board meeting.

“Like many other companies, we’re moving to a hybrid working model which offers better collaboration for our associates and provides our associates with more flexibility,” he said, as reported by New Jersey Hills. “But the new model also is a more efficient use of space. And therefore, we don’t require all of the buildings that we currently have to accommodate our employees. And also by reducing our real estate footprint, it helps us achieve some of our energy and sustainability goals.”

Novartis shrunk that footprint by a sizeable amount in 2021 when a joint venture of Onyx Equities LLC and Russo Development acquired 62 acres from the company with plans to eliminate vacant office buildings in lieu of building up more than 800,000 square feet of industrial space at the site. Demolition was paused in April, with the partners, working as R&O East Hanover, announcing they would propose a smaller project, according to a report from the Daily Record.

Like NVE’s plans, the move would remove extra office space from the market and add more square footage in a sector with rising demand, particularly in recent years.

The East Hanover Little League 12-year-olds have etched their name in Morris County baseball lore.

In Sunday night’s winner-take-all New Jersey state championship game, East Hanover/Florham Park stunned Holbrook (Jackson), 4-3 at Buchmuller Park in Secaucus. East Hanover is just the seventh Morris County team to capture a Little League state title since the tournament was first held in 1957, and the first since Parsippany-Troy East won it all in 2012.

In a rematch of Saturday’s game in which East Hanover defeated previously undefeated Holbrook, 2-0, the Hornets scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on Sunday, and two more in the second to secure the victory.

"It's been a great experience for the boys and their families as well as for both towns. I felt like we were on even footing after Saturday's win," manager Joe Cheringal said. "We knew we had two of our best four pitchers available after they used both their best pitchers. Leading up to Saturday, we had played some hard-fought games. We were able to keep the momentum going and managed to jump out and take the lead in the first inning."

In the first inning, Anthony Abrantes tied the game when he grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Tyler Ciasullo. In the next at bat, RJ Gossweiler singled to score AJ Rossi.

The Hornets then raced to a three-run lead in the second inning when Rossi smacked a two-out, two-run single.

Holbrook managed to pull within a run in the fourth inning at 4-3, but couldn't get anything going the final two innings. Gossweiler earned the win for East Hanover, giving up five hits, one earned run and four strikeouts in three innings. Braden Edelle threw the final three innings, striking out two on one hit and no runs.

"It feels good to represent New Jersey and I hope we can do good things in the regionals," Gossweiler said. "It was really cool being one of the four teams to represent the state. We met some new friends and had the chance to play at a nice field in front of a lot of people."

East Hanover (18-2), the Section 1 and District 1 champions, will face neighboring state champions Connecticut on Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPN Plus) in the Metro-Region in Bristol, CT. with berths in the 2023 Little League World Series on the line.

"We're solid heading up to Bristol (CT) for the region tournament. We've now played 20 games this summer and you can see the chemistry with the team," Cheringal said. "We don't blow teams away, but we do all the little things right."

East Hanover’s road to the title began with a 6-5 win over Section 2 and District 6 champion Fort Lee on July 26. In Thursday’s winners bracket, the Hornets dropped a 12-4 contest to Holbrook in four innings, pushing them into the elimination bracket final on Friday. East Hanover defeated Fort Lee, 8-3 for the second time in as many days.

That led up to Saturday’s start to the championship series in which the Hornets handed Holbrook its first loss of the summer, setting up Sunday’s finale.

"We knew we had something special before the summer season began. But you don't know what you have until they get on the field and play together," Cheringal said. "We pool kids from two towns, East Hanover and Florham Park, and there's approximately 55 players that try out. We have 12 kids on the team and 10 have been playing together for a long time. It's a special group of kids."

East Hanover looks to become the first Morris County team to capture the Mid-Atlantic Region and advance to Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series, since Par Troy East (Parsippany) in 2012 and the first New Jersey team since Elmora Youth (Elizabeth) in 2019.

Other Morris County teams to capture New Jersey Little League state titles include Parsippany Troy East (2012), Randolph (2007), Randolph West (2001), Pequannock (2000), and Morristown National (1985 and 1982).

QuickChek opened a new store and gas station just off Route 10 East in East Hanover on Tuesday.

The 5,869-square-foot store will be open 24 hours a day, complete with a gas station, fresh-brewed coffee, all-day breakfast, lunch and dinner, including made-to-order subs, wraps and salads.

There's a no-fee ATM and 61 parking spaces, plus parking for two oversized vehicles and outdoor seating for 16 customers. The store is located at 235 Route 10 in East Hanover.

Customers will be able to treat themselves to pumpkin spice-flavored coffee for a limited time. You'll also be able to shop for household items like milk, juice and eggs.

There’s hot and iced coffee, and all-day breakfast items, including breakfast sandwiches with English muffins or waffles.

Rewards for customers

To celebrate the grand opening, QuickChek is offering one free cup of coffee per day for seven days starting Aug. 15 to QuickChek Rewards members at the East Hanover store.

East Hanover shoppers new to the QuickChek Rewards program get up to four weeks of special offers. Week one includes offers a free fountain drink or coffee at any size. Week two includes offers a $1 breakfast sandwich. Week three includes offers 50% off any six-inch sub. Week four includes offers 50% off any fresh snack item.

According to a press release, the store is expected to bring in between 35 to 45 new local jobs.

Related:It's not your imagination. Convenience stores are multiplying in NJ, with no end in sight

Russ Mensch, a spokesperson for QuickChek, said plans are in the works for a QuickChek in Scotch Plains towards the last quarter of 2023. There are 145 QuickChek stores in New Jersey.

QuickChek, being open 24 hours and serving freshly prepared food all day and night, helps serve people with diverse lifestyles and routines, he said.

"Nine to five doesn’t exist anymore," said Mensch. "Anyone, such as an ambulance driver getting off shift at four in the morning, can get the same sandwich as the person customizing their sandwich at four in the afternoon.”

As of late July, competitor Chester Heights, Pa.-based Wawa has 283 stores in New Jersey, mostly concentrated in South Jersey. Spokesperson Lori Bruce estimated that another nine Wawa's will open in the state this year.

But Wawa — home of the Hoagiefest and a new pizza menu — has a long way to go before it could in the convenience center wars of Morris County, where QuickChek is still king.

Each to its own

While it may seem like a lot of stores on paper, it’s really not, explained Arturo Osorio Fernandez, a management and global business professor at Rutgers University.

“If placed on a map there is a geographical pattern of service-overlap on highways and heavy traffic areas,” he said in May. “Yet you will also see that they have no real overlap. Each brand serves a different area. And there are even areas that are not served by either of them.”

Wawa “is considered to be an NJ store by locals,” Fernandez said, despite being based out of Pennsylvania, “because of its largest presence in the area.”

With QuickChek, he said, “the brand is linked to green practices and transparency, [t]hus presenting itself as a more environmentally conscious business that seeks to provide freshness and convenience.”

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.