NEWARK-National real estate investment company Johnson Capital has arranged a construction loan for the ground-up development of the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel in downtown Newark near the Prudential Center sports arena.
Chicago-based Tucker Development had recently topped off steel at the $35 million project, which will be the first new hotel in Newark in over forty years. Commenting on the debt placement after construction had already begun, Lino DiLascio, a principal of Johnson Capital’s New York City office says, “Given the importance of this site, the highly structured financing, and the amount of time since a new hotel was developed in Newark, there were many challenges that had to be overcome for this deal to be completed.”
He said the Johnson team, which included Allen Ostroff, managing director and head of Johnson’s Capital Global Hospitality, was able to get several banks interested. “We ended up with a loan and a lender ideally suited for this project,” says DiLascio, who identified the lender as a regional bank, but did not disclose the name.
Tucker Development is developing the project in partnership with an affiliate of the New Jersey Devils pro-hockey team. The partners contributed equity and land to the project. Tucker was able to move forward with the development after contracting with Marriott. The 36-month loan obtained by DiLascio’s team carries a floating interest rate, he says.
The hotel site is located at the intersection of Lafayette and Broad Street, next to a parking garage adjacent to the Prudential Center arena known as ‘The Rock.’ The 150-room hotel will include 14,780 square feet of street-level retail space. Its opening is scheduled for September.
Because of the close proximity to the arena, the current home of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and the permanent base of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, the hotel site is considered integral to Newark’s downtown redevelopment. It had been vacant until Tucker started work last March.
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