One of the companies involved in a billion-dollar development in Fort Lee, N.J. secured state pension funds as part of the financing of the project, PolitickerNJ reported on Tuesday.
Documents obtained by the PolitickerNJ show that the State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund E holds a majority 55 percent ownership interest in the Tucker Development and Acquisition Fund, L.P. The rest of the entity is divvied up between Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (a 27.5 percent ownership interest), Prudential Insurance Companies of America (a 16.5 percent ownership interest), and Tucker Managers, LLC (a one percent ownership interest.) The document was officially recorded by the Bergen County, N.J. county clerk on May 16, 2012.
The Tucker Development Corporation is one of the companies behind the Hudson Lights project, which is being built on the western eight-acre portion of a 16-acre redevelopment area in Fort Lee, located beside the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. The proximity of the project to the bridge has led to speculation that the bridge lane closures that occurred in September — and that this month have exploded into a political scandal for Gov. Chris Christie (R) — were somehow connected to the project. But no link has yet been publicly demonstrated.
On Sept. 16, Tucker Development Corporation announced that it had secured $218 million in financing for the Hudson Lights project. In a press release, the company described the project as a joint partnership between “affiliates of Tucker Development Corporation, Ares Management and Kushner Real Estate Group.”
