45-57 Edison Place in Newark — Courtesy: The Blau & Berg Co.
By Joshua Burd
A development firm has acquired a 30,500-square-foot retail space in downtown Newark, in a transaction arranged by The Blau & Berg Co.
Brokers with the firm represented both the seller and the buyer, Iron Ore Properties LLC, in the deal at 45-57 Edison Place. The Short Hills-based brokerage subsequently inked a new lease at the property with Loft Life Venue LLC.
The Blau & Berg team included Christian M. Benedetto Jr., Alex Conte, Jason M. Crimmins and Peter J. Murano.
“The building has location, location, location,” said Benedetto, the firm’s director of business development. “The property offers a premier location for other retail and office users being directly across from the Prudential Center and touching the Championship Plaza in the heart of Newark’s central business district. It is at the entrance to Gateway Center, featuring covered walkways to and from Newark Penn Station.”
The property’s new owners touted its appeal to the food and beverage industry, thanks in part to the area’s demographics, the city’s daytime employment base and its higher education anchors.
“This is an unbeatable location,” said Josh Mann, co-managing member of Iron Ore Properties. “While being directly across from the main entrance to the arena is amazing, we are just as excited about what’s going on around us. Mulberry Commons is the most underrated aspect of all the redevelopment going on downtown — and our location will be able to benefit from that as well.”
Mann also noted that he and the firm’s other principals, Josh Sternberg and Brandon Boffard, already have ownership interests downtown, “so this was a natural place for our company to plant a flag.”
