AIG Lends $60 Million for Jersey City Waterfront Project

AIG Global Real Estate Investment has funded a $60 million floating-rate land and construction loan for Phase I of Liberty Harbor North, a development along Jersey City's Gold Coast. Developer Peter Mocco, former mayor of North Bergen and head of Mocco Enterprises, has said he hopes it will be the crown jewel of Jersey City's waterfront revitalization. The financing was arranged by CBRE | Melody and NorthMarq Capital.

The 80 acres of brownfields property is one of the largest undeveloped parcels remaining along the Hudson River. The redevelopment project will eventually include 6,500 units of housing, one million square feet of hotel space, 750,000 square feet of retail space and 4.5 million square feet of office space.

Mocco has owned the land for over 20 years and was able to contribute the land value as part of his equity in the project. The floating-rate loan also has a cap. Mocco's partners in the venture are Hoboken-based developers Michael and David Barry along with developer Murray Kushner.

Marty Klebanoff, Northmarq's senior v.p. and co-managing director, worked with Mark Cohen, senior director of CBRE on the deal. "It's unusual, because we're competitors," Cohen said. "But myself and Marty are longtime friends, and since we were working on the same project, we decided to team up on it."