Envisioning Asbury Park’s Future, Regional Capital Group Provides $25 Million Plus To Revitalize Historic Shore Town

At a time when the future of Asbury Park was uncertain, Regional Capital Group had the vision to fund the transformation of derelict properties into vibrant new housing. With funding provided over the course of several years, Regional Capital Group helped reshape and revitalize the future of the historic sea town.

MARLTON, NEW JERSEY (March 1, 2006) - Regional Capital, a National Real Estate Lending and Investment Company, has provided in excess of $25 million dollars in funding to the emerging community of Asbury Park, New Jersey. Numerous projects were rehabilitated and returned to the grandeur of old within the past seven years thanks to funding by Regional Capital – funding that helped to create a growth of residential properties in the fine town of Asbury Park.

During the last 25 years, Asbury Park experienced an economic decline - causing the once vibrant community to fall into tremendous disrepair. The type of funding Regional Capital Group provided included bridge financing, acquisition financing, rehab financing and construction financing for residential and commercial property types. 

Regional Capital Group is a direct commercial real estate lender and has provided unique financing for real estate. Regional Capital Group offers an alternative to traditional funding sources with creative loan programs for commercial and residential properties.

The type of funding that Regional provided included bridge financing, acquisition financing, rehab financing, construction financing, equity, and subordinated debt for residential and commercial property types. Regional provided the borrower with the ability to acquire properties very quickly and take advantage of opportunities as they were presented. Numerous projects were rehabilitated and returned to the grandeur of old – helping to create a growth of residential properties in this town.

Regional Capital Group Remains Involved In Asbury Park

Regional and its founder, Paul Braungart, remain involved in various projects in Asbury Park and the surrounding communities. "Regional remains focused on urban projects and considers projects of all sizes and scope. The company has funded projects of this type in various parts in its home state of New Jersey , but has also been successful in other markets," reports Braungart. "This type of lending has been, and will continue to be a part of our lending platform - not only giving us an opportunity to bring back a great community, creating housing and business opportunities for local residents."

An entrepreneur and lifelong resident of South Jersey , Braungart , is the sponsor of Regional's RCG 1 fund. RCG 1 is a real estate fund designed specifically to accommodate loan requests that require short term funding for real estate projects. During his tenure in the real estate finance field, Braungart has directed the funding of over $2 billion of real estate loans. He has also been involved in real estate development and investment .

T he Grand Story of Historic Asbury Park , New Jersey

As the 19th century turned into the 20th, the United States experienced a renaissance known now as the Gilded Age. Expansion to the Pacific Ocean pushed open the doors of westward settlement. Mississippi River cities developed as hubs of manufacturing and transportation. Literature experimented with realism. Art and architecture found new meaning in the classical models of Athens and Rome . The windows of academia opened to let in the light of a new tradition called liberal arts. The period's optimism was palpable.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Asbury Park . Begun in 1870 by New York industrialist and real estate developer James A. Bradley, by 1890 this up-and-coming residential resort on the north shore of New Jersey 's Atlantic coast was poised for the new century. A year-round tax base, commercial opportunities for aspiring merchants, and employment for its citizens rested on the economic tripod of hospitality, light industry, and what would turn out to be the forerunner of the latter-day retail-office space.

Later, technological innovation would come from Asbury Park - and the city's first amusements entrepreneur, Ernest Schnitzler. High above Wesley Lake was his patented observation platform for a rotating wheel whose metal baskets carried riders. He placed it between an intricately detailed carousel made by renowned Coney Island woodcarver Charles I.D. Looff and one of the state's first maze of glass and mirrored walls ever built. Over on the boardwalk, New York architect Whitney Warren designed the city's most enduring Beaux Arts buildings: the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall complex and the Casino Arena and Carousel House. Attractive arcades were matched in entertainment value with theaters erected by impresario Walter Reade who chose Asbury Park to signal the dawn of the talkies in New Jersey when he opened the Mayfair Theatre in 1927.

Keenly aware of the devastation inherent in airborne diseases, James Bradley pushed for a modern sewer system, making Asbury Park the state's first coastal community to have one. Pristine, sandy beaches, beautifully landscaped public parks, three shimmering lakes rimmed by towering shade trees, Asbury Park was laid out to nourish the overworked body and regenerate the depleted mind. Its setting enabled the city to play an active role in the country's nascent field of contemporary health care; its resident doctors founded what today is Jersey Shore University Medical Center .

Asbury Park was challenged in the late 1960s, however, when riots destroyed much of the city's property and its vitality. Tourists began to go elsewhere. Long-time residents moved away. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the town took a steady path downhill. Although there were plans and hopes that a huge comeback was in the near future, Asbury Park - as a vibrant community - was slow to recover. The bottom for Asbury Park hit in the 1990s, at time some town historians refer to as the "ghost town" era for Asbury Park .

Now the 20th century has turned into the 21st, and Asbury Park is experiencing a new renaissance. A delight for architecture buffs, the entire city boasts a rich inventory which includes Queen Anne Victorian, Gothic, Federal Revival, and Modern structures. Students from the nation's leading schools of architecture have discovered Asbury Park 's value as a field laboratory for various theses on historic preservation and urban revitalization. A number of buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

About RCG 1 – Real Estate Fund Designed By Regional Capital Group

Announced in 2005, RCG 1 is a real estate fund designed specifically to accommodate loan requests that require funding for acquisition, land improvement, construction, rehab and reposition, bridge, joint venture, gap equity and mezzanine. The RCG 1 Fund is projected to close $100 million of loans in the new fund. Capitalizing on the extensive experience of the principals, this new fund will allow RCG to continue a creative approach to real estate lending. The company has specialized in “thinking out of the box” when structuring a loan. RCG will lend on bankable deals without the typical lengthy process of many lenders. This philosophy contributes to RCG being among the most expedient in the industry.

Reports RCG Founder Paul Braungart: "This fund allows RCG to accommodate the lending needs of developers and investors in an under served but rapidly growing area of the real estate lending arena. The latest fund from RCG offers higher leverage than typical funding sources in some cases for commercial and residential projects. This allows the company to be a lower cost alternative to expensive equity and in many cases allows the borrower to deal with one funding source. RCG 1 will consider loan requests in both urban and rural areas ."

About Regional Capital Group

Regional Capital Group, a Direct Commercial Real Estate Lender based in Marlton , New Jersey , provides unique financing for real estate. Regional Capital Group offers an alternative to traditional financing sources with creative loan programs for commercial and residential properties. Funding may take the form of debt, participating debt, equity or mezzanine. Regional Capital Group specializes in a variety of property types, including: multi-family, office, industrial, retail, mixed use, self storage, and residential tract development. Loan programs include land, land improvement, construction, bridge, project rehabilitation, Gap financing, conduit lending, mezzanine loans.  For more information, visit Regional Capital Group online at http://www.regionalcapital.com or call (856) 983-4800.