NEWARK, NJ March 16, 2012 – JOHNSON CAPITAL, a national real estate investment company, announces that Lino DiLascio, Principal and of the firm’s New York City office and Allen Ostroff,  Managing Director and Head of Johnsons Capital Global Hospitality, has arranged a construction loan for the ground-up development of the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Newark, New Jersey. The hotel will contain 150 rooms along with 14,780 square feet of ground floor retail space.

This project, estimated to cost $35 million, is the first new hotel in Newark in over forty years. It is located at the intersection of Lafayette and Broad Street, on a 20,040 square foot parcel that is an integral piece of the redevelopment of downtown Newark. The site, which had been vacant, is located adjacent to a parking garage next to the Prudential Center arena, current home of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and permanent home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. 

Tucker Development, based out of Chicago and led by Richard Tucker, along with Robert Finvarb Companies, are the project’s developers. The partnership also includes an affiliate of The New Jersey Devils. These partners contributed equity and land to the project. Tucker was able to move forward with the development once they had contracted with Marriott.  Johnson Capital’s team, led by DiLascio, was then able to obtain the construction financing. The 36-month loan was provided by a regional bank and carries a floating interest rate.

Commenting on the debt placement, Mr. DiLascio said, ”Given the importance of this site, the highly structured financing, and the amount of time since a new hotel was developed in Newark, there were many challenges that had to be overcome for this deal to be completed. After construction had already commenced in March 2011, our Johnson team was able to get several banks interested and we ended up with a loan and a lender ideally suited for this project.” 
 
The opening is scheduled for September 2012. The new hotel was designed by Streetsense architects and is being constructed by Structure Tone general contractors.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary as a leader in commercial real estate investment banking, Johnson Capital’s services include debt placement and acquisition financing for permanent loans, construction financing and property repositioning, in addition to joint venture equity placement for individual assets, portfolios, entities and discretionary funds. The firm is a leading national commercial real estate capital intermediary with direct lender relationships through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD and many insurance companies.

Johnson Capital’s transactions have ranged in total funding from $1 million to over $300 million and have included all property types, including: multifamily, office, retail, industrial and hotels. Since its inception in 1987, Johnson Capital’s aggregate transaction volume has surpassed $32 billion. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Johnson Capital is one of the country’s top real estate capital advisory firms with 19 locations nationwide.