Harbor Group Closes on $372M Jersey City Office Buy

Newport Office Center IV. Image via Google Street View

Harbor Group International has closed on the purchase a Class A office building in Jersey City, N.J., from the LeFrak Organization for $372 million. Morgan Stanley led the $251 million acquisition financing for the waterfront building at 545 Washington Blvd., with Barclays also participating in the deal.

Global Harbor Group, an international real estate firm based in Norfolk, Va., was first reported to be in contract for the 861,000-square-foot asset last September. The deal closed in January, according to an account by Commercial Observer, citing unnamed sources. Commercial Property Executive has independently confirmed the deal terms for both the debt and the sale.

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Adam Spies, Doug Harmon, Kevin Donner, Gary Gabriel and David Bernhaut of Cushman & Wakefield represented LeFrak in the sale, while colleagues Gideon Gil, Chris Moyer, John Alascio, Emily Johansen and Noble Carpenter III arranged the financing.

Built in 2001, the property known as Newport Office Center IV sits on a 2.8-acre lot and is roughly 95 percent occupied, according to Yardi Matrix. Around 80 percent of the building is understood to be leased to JP Morgan Chase and the headquarters of Insurance Services Office (ISO).

Located across the street from the Newport PATH station, the building features an on-site health club with swimming pool, child care center and helipad.

LeFrak sells another piece of Newport

The property forms part of Newport, a 600-acre master-planned neighborhood developed by LeFrak along the Hudson River waterfront. The development, which sits across the river from Manhattan’s Tribeca area, currently has 15 high-rise rental buildings with more than 15,000 residents, along with eight Class A office towers providing more than 6 million square feet of space.

The deal comes after the Manhattan-based real estate firm helmed by billionaire Richard LeFrak sold the office building at 570 Washington Blvd. just up the street in February 2019. LeFrak handed off the 10-story, 350,000-square-foot property to real estate investment firm iStar for $170 million.

Further north in Newport, developer Strategic Capital, an arm of China Construction America, last year opened Park and Shore, a two-building luxury condo project providing 429 units.