The deal was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey, East Rutherford. The Fort Lee-based Blumberg & Freilich Equities bought the building in 1998 for $2.8 million, according to Ary Freilich, the company's managing partner. Over the next two years, Freilich and partner Louis Blumberg spent another $2 million to renovate the asset, including adding a paneled lobby, marble flooring, new high-speed elevators and completely rewiring it for high-bandwidth Internet access and computer operations.
"Once the renovation was under way, the building filled rapidly with a mix of professional, technology-related and banking tenants," Freilich says. "At the time of sale, the building was 100% leased."
When 26 Journal Square was built in 1927-28, it was considered one of New Jersey's most elegant and prestigious office buildings. It initially served as a headquarters for a number of notable figures, including Jersey City's legendary mayor, Frank Hague. The 179-foot structure, once known as the Labor Bank Building, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Its recent renovation is considered to be a centerpiece of the larger makeover of this city's Journal Square district, going on around it.
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