Liberty Hall Center I at 1085 Morris Ave. in Union Township — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
The owner of a well-known office building in Union Township has landed $31 million to refinance the 210,000-square-foot property, in a deal arranged by JLL.
According to the debt placement team, Liberty Hall Joint Venture LLC used the proceeds to refinance an expiring loan and to fund base building improvements and future tenant allowances at 1085 Morris Ave., the onetime home of Elizabethtown Gas. Knighthead Funding LLC provided the financing, with JLL Senior Managing Director Jon Mikula, Director Max Custer and Vice President Michael Lachs representing the borrower.
“Liberty Hall Center I is a unique Class A office building located in a dynamic suburban market at the doorstep of Kean University’s campus,” Custer said. “With much of the building’s rentable square footage recently becoming available, Knighthead Funding did an excellent job understanding the property’s evolution and the borrower’s strategic value add business plan. We are thrilled to have assisted in arranging this financing relationship.”
Designed in 1988 by architectural firm Wallace Roberts & Todd, Liberty Hall Center I was originally built as the headquarters of Elizabethtown Gas. The regional natural gas utility company has since departed the property, which has a five-story glass atrium lobby, a full-service café, a conference center, atrium event space, four elevators, outdoor hardscaped lounge areas and covered executive parking.
The building is directly across from Kean University’s main campus and minutes from destinations such as Union Station Corporate Center, Vermella Union, the Shoppes at Vermella Union and Kean University’s New Jersey Center for Science Technology and Mathematics, JLL said. Tenants, meantime, are 22 miles from Manhattan and a short drive from the Garden State Parkway, Interstate 78, Route 22 and the New Jersey Turnpike.
