Namdar Group has secured two loans for its residential properties in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City, N.J. SCALE Lending provided a $160 million construction loan for the developer’s 626 Newark project that’s currently under construction, along with a $83 million bridge loan for the recently completed 26 Van Reipen community. The bridge loan retires a $73 million construction loan and will help fund the lease-up and stabilization of the community, according to SCALE. Greystone Capital Advisors’ Drew Fletcher and Bryan Grover arranged the loans.
Namdar Group tapped AJD Construction as general contractor for 626 Newark, which is expected to be completed in 2026. The 27-story tower will offer 576 units in studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans. As a mixed-use tower, 626 Newark will also include 9,915 square feet of street-level retail and 17,747 square feet of office space.
A few months prior, the developer completed the 26 Van Reipen project that offers 235 units in a 27-story building. The units come in studio and one-, two- and three-bed floorplans as well, while the community was built with a rooftop lounge, fitness center, yoga room, coworking lounge, game lounge, bowling alley, golf simulator and Wi-Fi. Similarly, 26 Van Reipen includes 7,562 square feet of retail and 7,546 square feet of office space that’s leased to CMPND, an apartment and coworking community.
Strong investor interest in Journal Square
With the latest $243 million in financing, SCALE is now up to $403 million deployed across three loans for Namdar Group and its Journal Square projects in the last six months. In July, the firm previously provided a $160 million bridge loan for the developer’s 432-unit community called 9 Homestead Place, which was completed in spring 2023.
More recently, SCALE finalized a $46 million bridge loan for Arris Grand, a recently completed apartment building in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood that was developed by a joint venture between Ranger Properties and KD Sagamore. Elsewhere in New York, Namdar Group partnered with Empire Capital Holdings to acquire The Collection at Mercedes House, a 162-unit community in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Namdar Group lined up $77.4 million in acquisition financing for the transaction, which was provided by Deutsche Bank Wealth Management.
