Rockport Mortgage Provides $140M for New Jersey Community
The refinancing loan will extend the affordability of Parkview Towers, a 688-property owned by LIHC Investment Group in West New York.
Parkview Towers. Image courtesy of LIHC Investment Group
Rockport Mortgage Corp. and LIHC Investment Group have closed on a $140 million refinancing loan for Parkview Towers, a pair of 24-story apartment buildings totaling 688 units in Northern New Jersey. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Section 223(f) refinancing extends the property’s Section 8 affordability by another 39 years.
Affordable housing landlord LIHC owns the towers overlooking the Hudson River in West New York. Located at 5001 Park Ave., the community was built in 1951. All households at the property are covered by a “project-based” contract under the Section 8 program, limiting residents’ contribution to rent payments to 30 percent of adjusted gross income.
As part of the refinancing, LIHC agreed to maintain the property’s affordability to low- and very low-income families through 2059 under a new 20-year Mark-up-to-Market Section 8 contract. The refinancing will also enable the owners to launch a property-wide renovation effort of more than $8.4 million, including in-unit upgrades to the kitchens, bathrooms and appliances. Further modifications will boost the number of accessible units from 25 to 35.
Long waitlist
The companies said in a statement that demand for homes at Parkview remains high, with a waitlist of more than 350 prospective tenants and occupancies averaging more than 98 percent over the past 3 years. The community is the largest affordable housing project in West New York, a town in Hudson County atop the New Jersey Palisades. Parkview is within walking distance of the Port Imperial ferry terminal, which provides access to Manhattan in roughly 20 minutes.
LIHC said in a statement that the company has extended affordability protections for 1,790 units across six communities in New York and New Jersey this year. Rockport has provided Section 223(f) financing for a number of other properties owned by the investment group in 2020, including $65 million for Renwick Garden Apartments in Manhattan; $74 million for Little Italy Restoration Apartments in Manhattan; and $51 million for Verona Senior Citizens Apartments in Verona, N.J., and Mansion Apartments in Pine Hill, N.J.
