A living room inside Gull’s Cove II, a new 107-unit condominium building in Jersey City’s Liberty Harbor North neighborhood. — Courtesy: Liberty Harbor North LLC
By Joshua Burd
A developer has repaid a nearly $70 million construction loan for a Jersey City condominium project, in one of several year-end highlights touted by Procida Funding.
The Englewood Cliffs-based firm announced the activity as part of a recap of transactions made in 2017 under its 100 Mile Fund. Procida said the borrower, which was developing the 107-unit second phase of the Gull’s Cove condo project on Marin Boulevard, repaid the loan on Dec. 29 as part of the lender’s final transaction of the year.
One day earlier, the 100 Mile Fund closed $6.5 million in construction financing for a new retail center for the Mabie family in Toms River, Procida Funding CEO and President William Procida said. The firm also provided a $1 million loan for the ongoing construction at The Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia.
Procida described the activity as a big finish to what was meant to be a quiet year for The 100 Mile Fund. Following three years of originating some $100 million annually in bridge, construction and mezzanine loans, Procida announced early in 2017 that the firm was becoming much more cautious in its selection of investments.
As such, it slowed the fund investments to seven loan originations for about $27.6 million while the firm was paid off for nearly $103 million in mostly smaller transactions, ranging from $1 million to $5 million, according to a news release. In past years, the fund typically provided loans of $5 million to $25 million.
“We will be taking a much more conservative approach in ’17, from the size and types of our investments, to the use of leverage, to our recognition of income and valuation of our assets,” Procida wrote in a letter to shareholders last January.
Other 2017 highlights from Procida Funding include:
- Closing a $7 million construction loan on a ground-up condo project in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, for longtime client Jim Kennelly.
- A $3.5 million loan for upgrades to an existing student housing complex next to the Rutgers-Newark. The loan was provided to another 20-year client, John Kwak.
- $750,000 in financing for a business that fixes fuel oil trucks
- $1.5 million to pay off an existing lender and perform improvements at an industrial complex that houses an auto mechanic, body shop, brewery, a national environmental firm and other industrial uses in Kenilworth
- The successful conclusion of a five-year, $25 million program to renovate buildings in Paterson with developer Charles Florio
“What started out with a $180,000 loan to a 23-year-old developer in 2009 turned into ($25 million) and substantially improved some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Paterson,” Procida said. “Charles did a great job and is now focusing on Southern States. We are proud of what he did and proud to be a part of it.”
