RBH Group Obtains Financing for Downtown Newark Projects
The SoMa Redevelopment Project encompasses more than 15 million square feet of development.
Newark, N.J.—Affiliates of RBH Group LLC, which is based in Newark, N.J., have obtained a total of $27.5 million in financing for projects in downtown Newark. The Singer & Bassuk Organization, a boutique real estate finance intermediary, facilitated the deal.
The loans include a $25 million first mortgage land loan from an affiliate of Knighthead Funding LLC covering several future development parcels in the area south of Market Street (SoMa) in downtown Newark. The financing also involved a $2.5 million second mortgage from Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC covering the 909 Broad Street development in Newark.
The SoMa Redevelopment Project encompasses more than 15 million square feet of development capacity within a 23-acre area southwest of Market Street. The SoMa Master Plan, developed by architect Richard Meier and developer Ron Beit, has a goal of creating a mix of daytime and nighttime users in downtown Newark.
Specifically, the plans calls for the emergence of new neighborhoods consisting of thousands of residential units, hotels, and retail uses connected via walkable streets, and development that leverages mass transit. The neighborhood is located near the New Jersey Transit, PATH and Amtrak rail stations, buses and other local transportation.
RBH Group is chaired by Beit. The lead financial investors within RBH Group’s SoMA Newark Development Project are Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Nicolas Berggruen, the Founder and President of Berggruen Holdings and the Berggruen Institute, Frederick Iseman, CI Capital Partners, and Warren Lichtenstein, Steel Partners.
Beit has acquired and assembled 79 parcels in downtown Newark since 2001. The properties, which are not all contiguous, are mostly centered within the SoMa area bounded by Broad, Market, Washington and Hill Streets.