Developer Has $59M Plan For NJ City: 'Orange Crossing'

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Developers have secured $9.75 million to build a multi-family residential building in the Reock Street Redevelopment Area of Orange – and there’s more to come, they say.

Last month, PEEK Properties (PEEK) announced it has secured $9,750,000 in construction financing for a building at 276 Reock Street in Orange.

The building, which developers are calling “Apex Orange Crossing,” will have 50, Class A, “market-rate” units, including studio, one and two-bedroom apartments. On-premises amenities include a gym, parking garage, automated parking system and automated package delivery system, as well as car-charging stations.

Construction is expected to take about 14 months, with lease up slated for the winter of 2022, developers said.

The property at 276 Reock Street will serve as the flagship of three, new-construction Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) multifamily properties in the City of Orange, which developers have dubbed “Orange Crossing.”

Located a block away from NJ Transit’s Orange Station and the Main Street Business District, Orange Crossing “aligns with the city’s efforts to revitalize land and property parcels between the NJ Transit railroad right-of-way and Freeway Drive/Interstate 280,” developers said.

The area is bounded by South Essex Avenue to the west and South Center Street to the east.

PEEK also recently secured site plan approvals from the City of Orange Planning Board for Reock II (99 units at 49 S. Day St.) and Reock III (91 units at 72 S. Essex Ave), located next to Apex Orange Crossing.

Branded Summit Orange Crossing and Pinnacle Orange Crossing, respectively, all three properties are planned to come online within six months of one another. Combined development costs are expected to surpass $59 million, developers said.

“This is an exciting time for PEEK Properties, a leader in streamlining some of the first QOZ projects in New Jersey – from initial-to-final fundraising and pre-construction approvals to ground-up construction and lease up,” said PEEK Managing Partner Phillip Evanski, who noted the firm is finalizing the remaining equity for PEEK Reock II QOF, LLC by year end while launching initial funding for PEEK Reock III QOF, LLC.

“All of this comes on the heels of completing our first joint venture development – 475 William St. in the Brick Church neighborhood of East Orange – since forming PEEK in late 2018,” Evanski said.

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