Nuveen lends $101M C-PACE for Great Point's Newark studios

Nuveen Green Capital has supplied a $101 million C-PACE loan for Great Point Studios’ Lionsgate-anchored production complex in Newark, a deal that closed with the project already fully pre-leased. For developers, the takeaway is how a specialized, income-locked asset used clean-energy financing to lower its cost of capital.

Why it matters

Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing is repaid through a property tax assessment, which lets it run at a lower rate over a longer term than a construction loan and frees equity for the build itself. On a 270,000-square-foot studio with committed rent, that is exactly the profile lenders like: pre-leased cash flow plus energy-efficiency scope that qualifies for the assessment. The deal is a template for developers of purpose-built product, studios, labs, data-adjacent facilities, who can pair a signed anchor with C-PACE to stretch the stack. It is also Nuveen’s second sizable tristate financing we have covered this month, after its Manhattan Valley multifamily deal on July 7, a sign the lender is leaning into the region.

The numbers

The $101 million loan funds a six-soundstage, 270,000-square-foot complex anchored by Lionsgate and 100 percent pre-leased. Delivery is targeted for June 2027.

“Through C-PACE, the sponsor will realize meaningful cost savings by financing this project at a competitive rate over a longer term, preserving capital that can be redeployed into the development itself,” said Mike Doty, senior director of originations at Nuveen Green Capital.

What’s next

Watch whether more specialized-use developers in the New York region route pre-leased projects through C-PACE as construction debt stays expensive. With a signed anchor and a lower blended rate, the model travels to any asset class where a tenant commits before delivery, and Newark’s studio cluster now has a financing comp for the next one.