Ridge Pointe at 1 Executive Blvd. in Fort Lee — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
SELA Realty Investments has picked up a property just south of its Fort Lee headquarters, acquiring a 132-unit apartment building with financing from a debt fund.
According to JLL, which arranged the sale and sourced the loan, Ridge Pointe at 1 Executive Blvd. changed hands with significant value-add potential. That’s due in part to units that are substantially larger than competing properties, with an average size of 1,296 square feet, as well as strong demographics and transit access that its new owner can now leverage.
JLL senior managing directors Mike Oliver, Steve Simonelli and Jose Cruz, Senior Director Elizabeth DeVesty, Director Austin Pierce and Senior Analyst CJ Anania represented the undisclosed seller and the buyer. Senior Managing Director Thomas E. Didio Jr., Senior Director Gerard Quinn, Associate Michael Mataras and Analyst Tyler Caricato sourced the floating rate acquisition loan through Balbec Capital LP, also representing SELA.
Terms were not disclosed.
“Ridge Pointe’s oversized floor plans create a differentiated living experience that provides families and professionals working from home with substantially more usable space than competing properties in the submarket,” Oliver said. “Combined with the property’s transit-oriented location, embedded upside potential from additional parking delivery and constrained new supply pipeline, this asset represents a compelling value-add opportunity in one of New Jersey’s most desirable submarkets.”
Originally built in 1985 and converted from office to residential in 2014, the seven-story building has floorplans ranging from studio to three-bedroom layouts with condo-style finishes, floor-to-ceiling windows and panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline and George Washington Bridge, according to a news release. The property also has more than 20,000 square feet of luxury amenities, including a rooftop lounge, a golf simulator, a screening room, a fitness facility, a spin room, a yoga room, a billiards room and a children’s playroom.
Residents are less than a mile from the George Washington Bridge and have easy access to Manhattan via multiple NJ Transit bus stations and to NY Waterway’s Edgewater Ferry Landing service to West 39th Street in Midtown Manhattan. JLL added that the property is surrounded by three Blue Ribbon schools, including Bergen County Tech, The Elisabeth Morrow School and The Roosevelt School.
Ridge Pointe also benefits from Fort Lee’s strong demographics, where nearly half of residents are renters with an average household income exceeding $145,000, the firm said. Within a one-mile radius of the property, 79 percent of residents are white-collar professionals and 65 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.
“There is substantial liquidity in the debt fund space today for multifamily opportunities,” Quinn said. “Balbec recognized this opportunity and was able to quickly provide an attractive financing solution for SELA in today’s competitive lending environment.”
