Growing National Private Lending Platform Provides Flexible Acquisition and Value Enhancement Capital
An affiliate of Rubenstein Mortgage Capital (“RMC”), a private mortgage lending platform focused on debt investments secured by U.S. transitional office assets, announced the closing of a first mortgage loan of up to $57 million for the acquisition, repositioning and re-leasing of 115 Tabor Road, a four-story, 465,000-square-foot office building in Morris Plains, New Jersey.
The initial loan funding provided a portion of the acquisition cost, enabling the borrower, an affiliate of Argent Ventures, to acquire 115 Tabor Road from Honeywell International. Future loan advances are intended to substantially cover the cost of repositioning and re-leasing the property as a multi-tenant Class A office building. As part of this transaction, Honeywell leased-back a significant portion of the property for a term of 11 years. In addition, Global Aerospace recently executed a 27,000 square-foot, 11-year lease at 115 Tabor Road, further underscoring the regional tenant interest in the property, located within the popular Morris County submarket of Northern New Jersey.
The loan was originated by Andrew Murray at RMC, the debt investment platform headed by Fred Harmeyer at Rubenstein Partners, L.P. (“Rubenstein”), a vertically-integrated real estate investment advisor focused on value-add office property equity and debt investments. The RMC platform has fully discretionary investment capital and targets non-recourse first mortgage loans of $25 to $100+ million in markets throughout the country with a focus on office properties in need of debt capital for acquisition, repositioning or for ground-up construction.
“Even with the ongoing pandemic and market uncertainty, there is still a strong opportunity for alternative lending on high quality transitional office buildings that are well positioned for value enhancement, like 115 Tabor Road,” notes Murray. “The property’s location and fundamentals made this a compelling deal for RMC, while our team’s understanding of this regional market and our financing creativity allowed us to deliver a seamless execution of the loan to the borrower.”
The property was originally developed as a build-to-suit in 2007 as a headquarters facility for pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Due to the acquisition of Pfizer by Johnson & Johnson, the building sat vacant until 2015 when Honeywell purchased the property and completed a full interior renovation. As the new owner of 115 Tabor Road, Argent Ventures will now oversee the re-leasing and repositioning of the property as a standout asset in the Northern New Jersey office market.
115 Tabor Road is situated on nearly 40 acres and includes a five-story parking structure with a total of 1,335 spaces. The building offers exceptional amenities for tenants including a cafeteria, auditorium, basketball court and fitness center located on the ground floor. The well-located building is less than two miles from Route 10 in New Jersey and one mile from the Morris Plains Train Station in the Parsippany sub-market.
About Rubenstein Mortgage Capital
RMC is the investment platform of Rubenstein Partners focused on mortgage lending, debt investments, and capital markets activity. RMC provides fully discretionary balance sheet lending solutions for transitional office investors and office project developers seeking non-recourse first mortgage financing up to 80% of the capital structure. RMC provides flexible loan terms, directly originates new loans, and asset manages all its investments.
About Rubenstein Partners
Rubenstein Partners, L.P. founded in September 2005, is a private real estate investment advisory firm with operations throughout the United States. The firm is led by its founder, David Rubenstein, and a group of senior real estate executives, and is focused on directing and managing office real estate investments in the U.S. Rubenstein Partners’ predecessor company, The Rubenstein Company, LP and affiliates, founded in 1969, was one of the largest private owner operators of Class A office real estate in the Mid-Atlantic, owning and operating a portfolio of assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of its disposition in 2004. Since 2005, Rubenstein Partners has, on behalf of its investors and clients, invested in more than 22.5 million square feet of office real estate assets throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.rubensteinpartners.com.
About Argent Ventures
Argent Ventures, based in NYC and founded by Andrew Penson, is a vertically-integrated, diversified real estate investment firm specializing in opportunistic, value-add transactions throughout the United States.