MXD Wins $60M Land/Construction Loan

Originally appeared in GlobeSt.com on 06/20/06

By Eric Peterson

JERSEY CITY-Mocco Enterprises has picked up a $60-million land/construction loan for the initial phase of its Liberty Harbor North mixed-use community currently under construction on this city’s lower waterfront. The financing covers initial construction of the project’s first phase, including 269 luxury condos comprised of townhouses, brownstones and an eight-story mid-rise, as well as an eight-story, 140-unit rental building.

As reported by GlobeSt.com, the first phase will also include a one-million-sf, 32-story office tower, the construction of which awaits the signing of an anchor tenant, another 400 residential units and 80,000 sf of retail. Estimated price tag for the full phase one has been put at $200 million

“Liberty Harbor North has been more than 20 years in the making,” says Peter Mocco of the New York City-based Mocco Enterprises, who assembled the 25-square-block site in 1984 and has spent most of the time since dealing with site remediation, legal issues and an extended permitting process. After Phase I, the larger plan calls for a 10- to 15-year build-out, carrying an estimated $2-billion price tag, that will add up to more than 6,000 residential units, plus what Mocco terms a “complementary” retail component and hotels. Master planned by architect Andres Duany, it will encompass a plan of what he terms “new urbanism,” focused on dense mixed-use neighborhoods. The site is directly across a canal from Liberty State Park and the Liberty Science Center.

“Actually, we’re zoned for more,” Mocco told GlobeSt.com last year, when detailed plans were unveiled. “The zoning permits more than 6,500 units, 1.2 million sf of commercial space and five million sf of office space. But sometimes your zoning permits you to build more than you can physically build. Sometimes the market doesn’t permit you to build the total envelope.”

The loan was arranged by Mark Cohen, senior director in CBRE | Melody’s New York office and Marty Klebanoff, managing director of NorthMarq Capital’s Parsippany, NJ office. The source of the funding was not disclosed. “Mark and Marty shared my vision and had the creativity and tenacity to accomplish my financing goal,” adds Mocco.