JERSEY CITY, N.J. — HFF has arranged $200 million in refinancing for the 1.1 million-square-foot Newport Tower, a Class A office tower located at 525 Washington Blvd. in Jersey City.
The 36-story building is LEED Gold certified. Amenities include a full-service cafe, sundry shop, deli, on-site banking, covered parking and a direct connection via a skywalk to the 1.2 million-square-foot Newport Centre Mall. The property is 90 percent leased to tenants, which include AXA, BNP Paribas, Brown Brothers Harriman, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Computershare.
Cary Abod, Whit Wilcox, Mike Tepedino and Tom Didio of HFF secured the seven-year, 3.5 percent fixed-rate loan through Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. on behalf of the borrower, MEPT Newport Tower, a subsidiary of Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT). Bentall Kennedy serves as real estate advisor to MEPT. The company acquired Newport Tower in October 2011 from Brookfield Office Properties for $377.5 million.
MEPT is an open-end commingled real estate equity fund with more than $5.56 billion in net assets nationwide. Bentall Kennedy has represented more than 55 clients on office, retail, industrial, multifamily and hospitality assets totaling $27 billion in the U.S.
— Savannah Duncan