RBH Group Snags $28M in Financing for Downtown Newark Development Projects
By Cathy Cunningham February 23, 2017 4:39 pm
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The Singer & Bassuk Organization has arranged $27.5 million in financing for affiliates of RBH Group, Commercial Observer can first report.
The financing comprises a $25 million first mortgage land loan from Knighthead Funding, which will fund future development parcels in downtown Newark, and a $2.5 million second mortgage from Prudential (PRU) Impact Investments Mortgage Loans specifically for 909 Broad Street, also in Newark.
The development parcels are located in the area south of Market Street in the city, also referred to as SoMa and will be part of RBH’s SoMa Newmark Development Project, which aims to transform SoMa by encouraging rehabilitation of the area as well as new residential and retail development. The project encompasses over 15 million square feet of development capacity within a 23-acre area.
The redevelopment effort’s lead financial investors are Goldman Sachs (GS) Urban Investment Group, Nicolas Berggruen, the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings and the Berggruen Institute, Frederick Iseman, the founder of CI Capital Partners, and Warren Lichtenstein, the executive chairman of Steel Partners.
“The Singer & Bassuk Organization has been our trusted advisor for over a decade and played a critical role in both identifying Knighthead as a perfect fit for this complicated loan and in executing the transaction,” said Ron Beit, the president and chief executive officer of RBH Group. “The current loans further enhance and strengthen my team’s commitment to social impact investing that began with the successful Teachers Village Project, which is the first phase of the SoMa master plan.”
RBH’s Teachers Village is a six-building community located on five blocks along Halsey Street in SoMa. It includes three charter schools, 206 units of rental housing marketed to teachers and 65,000 square feet of retail.
“We are very proud to have been serving as real estate finance advisors to Ron Beit since 2001,” said Scott Singer, the president at SBO said in prepared remarks. “[The investment group] has undertaken a herculean effort that has resulted in a remarkable beginning to the transformation of the SoMa neighborhood and the entire downtown area. Prudential has been a stalwart supporter of RBH for years, and we were excited to bring Knighthead into the fold.”
