Tona Construction and Management is taking its first stab at developing in New Jersey and is doing so with a $50 million loan from a trio of lenders.
The Staten Island-based firm landed the construction financing for its 203-unit rental project at 50 Sussex Avenue in Newark, the Commercial Observer reported. New Jersey-based Valley National Bank was the senior lender, while Bank Leumi Le-Israel and Be-Aviv also contributed to the two-year package.
The transaction has a 75 percent loan-to-cost ratio. That rises to 80 percent when considering land values, according to FM Capital, which arranged the transaction; the FM team included Josh Pollack and Avi Eyal.
Tona’s 15-story project is in Newark’s University Heights neighborhood, within a mile of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers-Newark and Saint Michael’s Hospital. The apartment project will have 2,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and tenant amenities such as a gym, yoga room, tenant lounge, theater and outdoor recreation space.
Tona had poured 12 floors of concrete using its own funds before the loan closed. The development is slated for completion in the middle of next year.
Tona, which has a portfolio in Brooklyn and Florida, is also planning a 234-unit multifamily project a few blocks away in Newark.
Last year, an affiliate of Tona sold a small apartment building in Florida’s Broward County for $7.8 million. Boutique Hospitality was the buyer of the four-story, 15-unit property, which Tona completed in 2020.
Elsewhere in Newark, New York-based Cipco Developers recently scored approval for a 367-unit project in the city’s Ironbound district, known for its industrial character. The developer purchased the site for the full-block project two years ago for $5 million.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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