JERSEY CITY-In early October, this city's planning board gave its OK to Fisher Development Associates for a 43-story condo tower on the Hudson River waterfront, and the Purchase, NY-based developer now has the financial backing it needs to start actual construction. The New York office of Fremont Investment & Loan has closed on $135 million in financing for construction of the building, which will rise at 2 Second St., opposite lower midtown Manhattan.
"We have had a successful relationship with Fisher Development, and we are enthusiastic about this well-located development and its sponsorship," says Richard Smith, vice president and loan originator for Fremont's New York regional commercial real estate office. "We were able to provide them with the comfort of having only one participating bank and, as a result, no syndication risk."
That participating bank brought into the project by Fremont is Emigrant Savings Bank. Also involved in the project are the New York-based RCG Longview, which is an equity partner in the deal, and the New York-based investment advisory and management firm Ramius Capital Group Inc.
Named Hudson Exchange, the 436-foot-high tower that was approved in October by the planning board calls for a total of 269 residential condo units, many with outdoor terraces and most with city and water views. The base of the building will be a 60-foot-high parking deck with a total of 275 parking spaces. The site plan also calls for a 6,000-sf retail space that is expected to be occupied by a restaurant, as well as a marina and a waterfront walkway. The site itself is near the Newport Centre Mall and Newport Centre's office and residential towers.
"I like building in Jersey City, and I have built here previously," Brian Fisher of Fisher Development told planning board members at last month's meeting at which the project was approved. "I want to get started as soon as possible," he said, indicating that his company expects to break ground next spring and complete the project within a two-year time frame.
Fisher's other two local projects include the $100-million Liberty Towers on Hudson Street, completed three years ago, and the earlier Liberty Terrace, also on Hudson Street.
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