30 Montgomery St. Trades for $53M

"The building's location near mass transit and its positioning is ideal, especially during a time when Manhattan's commercial space has become extremely limited," says Jonathan Davis, Onyx's vice president of investment. "This acquisition is part of our strategy to read overall business and real estate marketplaces and make investments."

And while Manhattan's space is tight, 30 Montgomery St. itself has a relatively small block of 24,000 sf available, divisible to units from 500 sf to 8,000 sf, according to Davis. The ground floor also has a retail space available, "ideal for a bank branch," he says.

The existing tenant roster includes offices of the City of Jersey City, FundTech Corp., Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and the law firm of Schumann Hanlon LLC. The building itself is located at Greene and Montgomery streets, near the Exchange Place PATH station and across the street from a Bergen/Hudson Light Rail stop.

The Rahway, NJ-based Denholtz Associates and Jerold Zaro of Ocean, NJ had teamed up to buy 30 Montgomery St. in late 1997 for a reported $21.2 million, or about $72 per sf. The seller was the Ukrainian National Association, which relocated to Parsippany, NJ, leaving much of the asset vacant. Denholtz and Zaro launched an extensive renovation of the building, which was built in 1974, and brought it to full occupancy 12 months after buying it.

This latest purchase is Onyx's second in Jersey City. The firm was founded in 2004, and in December of that year teamed up with Rockwood Capital Corp. to make its first acquisition, buying the adjacent 164,000-sf class A Two Montgomery St. from Hines Corporate Properties for a reported $53.5 million. Since its founding in 2004, Onyx has amassed a portfolio of office, retail and industrial properties totaling more than 2.1 million sf and valued at some $296 million in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.