Thor Nabs $91M CMBS Loan for NJ Life Science Acquisition
NKF arranged the sale and also the financing for the $152M acquisition.
By Cathy Cunningham August 2, 2019 1:01 pm
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Citigroup has provided a $91 million CMBS loan to Thor Equities for its $152 million acquisition of the New Jersey Center of Excellence — a life science campus in Bridgewater, N.J., Commercial Observer can first report.
Newmark Knight Frank’s Kevin Welsh and Robert Griffin served as advisors on the sale. NKF’s Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Nick Scribani and Chris Kramer arranged the 10-year interest-only financing.
Thor Equities’ Jonathan Scheinberg led the acquisition efforts for Thor.
Bloomberg first reported news of the sale this morning, and that Thor is starting a new division called Thor Sciences to develop and manage properties in the life science sector. According to Bloomberg, this purchase — from sellers Advance Realty and CrossHarbor Capital Partners — marks Thor’s fifth life science property acquisition in the past two years and its first in New Jersey.
Of the financing, Thor’s Chairman and CEO Joe Sitt said: “Thank you to Citigroup for always being a good debt financing partner.”
“The Center of Excellence is another milestone achievement for Thor and will bolster the New Jersey life science corridor for years to come,” Stolly said in prepared remarks.
The property comprises approximately 783,500 square feet across eight laboratory, research and development buildings, and is anchored by Nestle Health Sciences, Ashland and Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Other tenants include Insmed, Avantor, Nevakar, Solaris Pharma, Clinical Genomics, Matinas BioPharma, Vertice Pharma, 3D Biotek, Unionmed Tech and GSG Scientific.
Thor has extension plans for the property “in excess of tens of millions of dollars,” according to information from the company. Presently, the campus also includes a range of amenities, such as a fitness center, an auditorium and a conference room and training center to encourage collaboration between life science tenants.
“The New Jersey office market as a whole, but especially in the life science industry, has rebounded incredibly from the recession and is poised for continued growth for the foreseeable future,” Roeschlaub added.
Across the pond, Thor has set its sights on a $300 million acquisition of a 2.2-million-square-foot logistics portfolio, as previously reported by CO.
Officials at Citigroup declined to comment.
