West Side Jersey City development secures $65M in construction financing

A project that will bring 337 units to Jersey City’s up-and-coming West Side neighborhood has secured a construction loan.

On Dec. 14, JLL Capital Markets announced it arranged $65 million in construction financing on behalf of developer Halpern Real Estate Ventures for a mid-rise, multi-housing project coming to 49 Fisk St.

The four-year, floating-rate, non-recourse loan was secured through Bank OZK.

The JLL Capital Markets Debt Advisory team representing the developer was led by Executive Managing Director Mike Tepedino; Senior Managing Director Michael Gigliotti; Directors Thomas Didio Jr. and Max Custer; and Associate Carlos Silva.

According to Didio, the transaction is the firm’s 20th in Hudson County since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, making for $615 million in total deal volume.

“Jersey City has been the beneficiary of tremendous post-COVID rental demand for multi-housing,” he said. “Bank OZK was quick to recognize this demand resurgence and bid the non-recourse financing aggressively for the borrower.”

Situated on 1.84 acres, the project will redevelop a former industrial building into a six-story, luxury apartment building with a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom market rate apartments and 143 parking spaces. It will include 48,000 square feet of lifestyle and amenity space, JLL said.

Among the offerings set for 49 Fisk St. are coworking spaces; a 14,000-square-foot green park; an 18,500-square-foot rooftop deck; a speakeasy-style bar, community garden, game room and fitness center; and shuttle service to the Journal Square PATH station.

Doors are expected to open at the development by late 2023.

The building, the design for which will focus on residents’ health and wellness while emphasizing innovation and sustainability, is a five-minute walk to the West Side Avenue Light Rail on the Hudson-Bergen Line. Also within 15 minutes of 49 Fisk St.: Newark Liberty International Airport, the New York Waterway Ferry and the New Jersey Transit Hoboken Terminal.

According to JLL, the West Side section of Jersey City has shown impressive market fundamentals in the past several years, followed by new investments including, New Jersey City University’s 22-acre expansion and the 95-acre Bayfront development.