$142.7M construction financing and equity placement arranged for multifamily development in Bergen-Lafayette

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Feb. 26, 2025 – JLL Capital Markets announced today that it has arranged a $142.7 million construction loan and equity placement for Scholars Village, a 500-unit Class A multifamily development in Jersey City, New Jersey.

JLL represented the borrower, Alpine Residential, in securing the four-year, floating-rate construction loan through Bank OZK. In addition, JLL helped arrange a preferred equity investment from EOS Residential Investors.

Scholars Village will be located in Jersey City’s Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood at 189 Phillip St., adjacent to the Liberty Science Center and across from Liberty State Park. The development will comprise two 12-story buildings with 500 design-forward residences and 4,101 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The community will offer studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units with modern finishes and best-in-class amenities including a fitness center, co-working spaces and rooftop terraces with views of the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty.

The transit-oriented location is a short walk from the Liberty State Park Light Rail station, providing individuals and families with convenient access to other parts of Jersey City and connections to Manhattan via PATH trains.

JLL Capital Market’s Debt & Equity Advisory team representing the borrower was led by Senior Managing Director Thomas Didio, Managing Director Thomas E. Didio, Jr and Senior Analyst Michael Mataras.

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment sales and advisory, debt advisory, equity advisory or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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Beachwold Residential and Alpine Real Estate Group formed a partnership named Alpine Residential in 2019, providing Beachwold Residential with a development division. Alpine Real Estate Group was a real estate development company founded by Bill Rosato and Todd Schefler in 2018. The predecessor company, Alpine Development Partners was formed by Bill Rosato in 2010.

By merging Alpine Real Estate Group with Beachwold Residential and creating Alpine Residential with the 50/50 ownership structure, Alpine is able to leverage the strong balance sheet of Beachwold. The legal, accounting, asset management and property management platforms of Beachwold have been integrated with Alpine and expanded where necessary. Beachwold received Alpine’s development expertise, employee infrastructure, proven track record and robust pipeline.

The goal is to pursue development opportunities in high barrier to entry markets throughout the northeastern United States and Florida where the principals have significant ownership and development experience. Alpine is building a portfolio of core multifamily assets that will be operated and managed by Beachwold and its wholly owned subsidiary, South Oxford Management. Beachwold and Alpine are both headquartered in the same office in Manhattan. South Oxford Management is based in Dallas, Texas with regional offices in Florida and Connecticut.

In their careers of over 30 years each, Todd and Bill have developed in excess of $1.5 billion of real estate including over 3,000 multi-family units. The Alpine Residential portfolio consists of 2,152 units ranging from developments in the approvals process to completed sites. In 2024, Alpine delivered 295 units across 3 properties – Atlas, Starling and The Hazel Phase 2 – in the Bergen Lafayette neighborhood of Jersey City.

Bank OZK (Nasdaq: OZK), through its Real Estate Specialties Group (RESG), provides financing on commercial real estate projects throughout the nation. RESG is considered a preeminent, market-leading construction lender focused on senior secured financing for a variety of property types including mixed use, multifamily housing, condominiums, office, hospitality, life sciences, industrial and retail. For the five years ended December 31, 2024, RESG originated approximately $40.97 billion in new loans. For more information, visit www.ozk.com.

EOS Residential Investors is a real estate investment platform established in 2023 in partnership with EOS Investors (www.eosinvestors.com). EOS Residential Investors employs a fundamental, value-driven investment strategy targeting opportunities in residential real estate sectors including multifamily, senior housing, student housing, manufactured housing, single-family rental and for-sale housing. The firm has a wide mandate to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by investing across the capital structure with flexibility to structure asset- or platform-level investments and financing solutions.

EOS Investors was established in 2017 and has grown to oversee $1.6 billion of assets under management across both its vertically-integrated hospitality investment strategy and newly launched residential investment strategy.