NJ developer lands $400M apartment loan

Planned megaproject at former Newark Bears stadium part of Madison Realty Capital financing

A view of the development site with Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium and Madison Realty Capital’s Josh Zegen (City of Newark, Wikimedia/buba69)
A view of the development site with Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium and Madison Realty Capital’s Josh Zegen (City of Newark, Wikimedia/buba69)

Developer Jack Klugmann landed a nearly $400 million loan from Madison Realty Capital for a portfolio of North Jersey apartments and a large development site at the former Newark Bears stadium.

Klugmann’s Accurate Builders & Developers received a $395 million loan for the properties, which include more than 1,000 recently completed units and a large site where the developer plans to build 4,200 apartments.

“We’re going to be building a min-city over here,” said Klugmann, who added the project will include about 100,000 square feet of coworking space and retail. “We’re trying to create a destination.”

Klugmann said the project is about a year out from starting.

The Newark megaproject is a “once-in-a-generation” construction that “benefits the economic revitalization of downtown,” Madison’s Josh Zegen said. The development will rise at the site of former minor league baseball stadium.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Meridian Capital Group’s Shaya Ackerman arranged the financing.

The loan, Zegen said, will be used to acquire properties at the 8-acre site and the project will be built over several phases. The site had originally been eyed for an office project, but Newark officials last month announced a deal to change the focus toward residential.

The rest of the deal went to refinance three newly built, luxury apartment buildings in Bayonne, Raritan and Linden with 1,161 units. Madison Realty Capital had provided construction financing for the properties — where leasing is either under way or set to kick off later this year — and Zegen described the current loan as bridge financing until the properties are stabilized.

He said the transit-oriented developments are in good position to benefit as workers return to offices.