Twin brothers Scott Shalek (left) and Eric Shalek are principals of Ridgecut Road, a nearly five-year-old firm focused on low-coverage and outdoor industrial storage sites and ground-up warehouse development. — Photo by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ
By Joshua Burd
Ridgecut Road has acquired and secured financing for a low-coverage industrial property in Fairfield, in a set of transactions arranged by JLL’s capital markets team.
The site, whose location was undisclosed, spans 5.78 acres and includes a 35,000-square-foot warehouse and maintenance facility with 26- to 30-foot ceiling clear heights and three oversized drive-in doors, plus a two-story, 10,000-square-foot office building, according to a news release. Ridgecut Road now plans to upgrade the property with the help of an acquisition loan from Byline Bank.
JLL managing directors Nicholas Stefans and Jason Lundy represented the undisclosed seller in the deal, while Senior Managing Director Michael Klein, Senior Director Max Custer and Analyst Kevin Badger led the acquisition financing in tandem with Byline Bank Senior Vice President Joanne Campanile.
“The property offers the flexibility that industrial tenants are seeking, especially given the scarcity of low coverage industrial sites in the region,” Klein said.
JLL noted that the property is a 30-minute drive from Port Newark-Elizabeth and is minutes from interstates 287 and 80. It’s also within a 10-mile radius of more than 781,000 residents, providing a strong draw for last-mile distribution and industrial service users.
“This asset is well-positioned to capitalize on the robust demand for the specialized property type in this dynamic submarket,” Custer said “Byline Bank is well-versed in the industrial space and quickly understood the property’s unique attributes that will make it attractive to future tenants.”
Stefans added: “Given the high barriers to entry, we have seen continued institutional demand for the low-coverage industrial subsector. Ridgecut Road continues to be at the forefront of the IOS space, understanding both tenant and institutional capital demand.”
