East Orange Churns With $1B In Real Estate Development, Firm Says

EAST ORANGE, NJ — A Livingston-based real estate firm says a $113 million housing deal in East Orange is just one of many opportunities in Essex County’s second-largest city, which churns with more than $1 billion in development activity.

According to Gebroe-Hammer Associates (GHA), it recently arranged the sale of a 641-unit workforce-housing portfolio in East Orange on behalf of Milrose, the seller, and Spaxel, the buyer.

It was Spaxel’s largest acquisition in largest in New Jersey to date, the firm said.

Located within two miles of each other, the early-to-late-20th-century buildings are in the heart of East Orange, a state-designated transit village where “sweeping revitalization initiatives are accelerating,” GHA stated.

The City Center-South Harrison Portfolio properties include: 106 S. Harrison St. (119 units), 111 S. Harrison St. (86 units), 120 S. Harrison St. (44 units), 158 S. Harrison St. (58 units), 179 S. Harrison St. (50 units), 255 S. Harrison St. (88 units), 275 S. Harrison St. (33 units), 296 S. Harrison St. (44 units), 94 S. Harrison St./The Renaissance Apartments (61 units) and 650 Park Ave./The Grand (58 units).

According to executive managing director Joseph Brecher, the complex sale required a two-tranche closing structure that allowed for loan assumptions on three of the 10 properties by the buyer.

“Each of these properties benefits from East Orange’s greatest asset – its transit connectivity,” Brecher said, pointing out that they’re a short walk to Brick Church Station, have front-door NJ Transit service along five routes, and are near highway access ramps to the Garden State Parkway, I-280 and local roadways.

David Oropeza, the firm’s East Orange/East Essex County market specialist, said the properties possess “inherent value-add characteristics” and a percentage of units that have been upgraded “during the past four years or so.”

“As a result, the properties are primed for continuation of in-place enhancements under new ownership and further repositioning maturation,” Oropeza said.

This latest deal is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to real estate opportunities in East Orange, according to the firm.

“As Essex County’s second largest city behind its neighbor Newark, East Orange has more than $1 billion in development activity underway,” GHA stated in a news release. “This wave of revitalization is not only a catalyst for diversification of the city’s existing tenant pool, it also is having positive rippling effects on existing multifamily properties poised for repositioning.”

“As a result, the city is drawing retailers with a strong regional and national presence, boasts a wide array of recreational spaces and has a budding East Orange Cultural and Arts District,” the firm added.

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