Northwind Group, a Manhattan-based real estate private equity firm and debt fund manager, on Monday announced it provided a $65 million first mortgage for Harborside 5, a 33-story Class A office property totaling over 1.5 million square feet, including a 1,150-space parking garage, featuring unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline in Jersey City.
The property was acquired by 601W Cos., a leading office owner & operator and a repeat borrower of Northwind. With the acquisition of Harborside 5, the sponsorship adds to its Jersey City waterfront portfolio, which already consists of Harborside 1, 2 and 3, where multimillion-dollar upgrades including a refresh of the interconnecting atrium and addition of new amenities is already underway.
The generationally low basis for a modern office property, combined with prior experience lending to 601W Cos., enabled Northwind Group to structure a competitive and swift financing solution for the sponsorship, which acquired the property from Veris Residential in an off-market transaction. The loan capitalizes $45 million for the acquisition while also providing the sponsorship with additional funds to commence an accretive leasing program.
In 2021, Northwind provided a $60 million bridge loan to 601W Cos. on a 690,000-square-foot office building in West Loop market of Chicago. The loan was fully repaid with a construction loan that capitalized for costs to reposition and modernize the asset. 601W Cos. owns 20 million square feet of commercial space across over 20 office buildings, with a collective value of about $6 billion.
Mark Karasick, managing member of 601W Cos., said: “(We are) delighted to join forces once again with Northwind, which wrapped their arms around the transaction quickly and whose execution was flawless. We are very excited about the rapid growth and development of Jersey City and look forward to great leasing success.”
“We are pleased to partner once again with 601W Cos., which reinforces our commitment to expanding our relationships with repeat, high-quality sponsors. Despite the challenges in today’s office market, the very attractive basis of this acquisition coupled with recent institutional leasing velocity in Jersey City gives us confidence in the potential of this Class A office building, which is a strong value proposition for businesses looking to upgrade their space. This is the first office loan we felt comfortable issuing in the last three years, and the loan’s attractive basis fits well within our funds’ investment risk profile and loan diversification strategy,” Ran Eliasaf, founder and managing partner of Northwind Group, said.
