NEW YORK CITY — JLL has arranged a $70.6 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of a 108-unit apartment building located at 200 E. 23rd St. in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood. Known as Gemma Gramercy, the newly constructed building rises 20 stories and was 80 percent occupied at the time of the loan closing. Residences come in studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Amenities include a fitness center, rooftop terrace, coworking space, lounge and entertainment room, media room and package handling services. Evan Pariser, Michael Shmuely, Michael Zaremski and John Flynn of JLL originated the 10-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the borrower and developer, SMA Equities.
Loans
HIALEAH, FLA. — Terra and New Valley have obtained a $127 million loan for the refinancing of Natura Gardens, a newly built multifamily community located in Miami’s West Hialeah neighborhood. The co-developers are using the loan, which was provided by an affiliate of MF1 Capital, to pay off and refinance a $65 million construction loan that Bank OZK provided in 2021. Keith Kurland, Aaron Appel, Jon Schwartz, Adam Schwartz and Michael Diaz of Walker & Dunlop’s New York Capital Markets team arranged the refinancing. Delivered in 2023, Natura Gardens is a 460-unit, garden-style apartment community that was more than 97 percent occupied at the time of refinancing.
PITTSBURGH — Seattle-based Avatar Financial Group has provided an $8.4 million bridge loan for the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh-Green Tree hotel on the city’s southwest side. The property consists of three buildings with a total of 460 rooms. Amenities include three food-and-beverage options, indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center and 40,000 square feet of meeting and event space. The sponsor, a joint venture between New York City-based investment firms First Choice Investments and The Chetrit Group, acquired the asset in 2021. The financing carries a 24-month term and loan-to-value ratio of approximately 26.5 percent, and the proceeds will be used to complete renovations and pay off existing debt.
SAN JOSE, CALIF. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged $20.5 million in refinancing for Almaden Safeway Center, a retail property in San Jose. Bruce Ganong, Lillian Roos and Matthew Mingrone of JLL Capital Markets secured the 10-year, fixed-rate loan through RGA Reinsurance Co. for the borrower, Brothers International Holding Corp. Situated on 11.6 acres, the three-building Almaden Safeway Center features 143,452 square feet of retail space. The property is fully occupied by 10 tenants, including Safeway, JoAnn Fabrics, McDonald’s, T-Mobile and Savers.
DENTON, TEXAS — Colliers Mortgage has provided a $41.8 million HUD-insured loan for the refinancing of Village at Rayzor Ranch, a 300-unit multifamily property located in the North Texas city of Denton. The property offers studio, one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a pool, outdoor grilling and dining stations, a dog park, fitness center, sports court, coworking space, coffee bar, lounge, fitness center and package handling services. Fritz Waldvogel of Colliers Mortgage originated the loan through a partnership with Old Capital Lending on behalf of the undisclosed borrower.
WILMINGTON, MASS. — JLL has arranged a $57 million construction loan for a 237,800-square-foot industrial project that will be located at 800 Salem St. in the northern Boston suburb of Wilmington. Building features will include a clear height of 36 feet, 47 dock positions and parking for 332 cars and 33 trailers. Steven Klein, Brett Paulsrud and Ryan Parker of JLL arranged the three-year loan through an undisclosed national bank on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between Connecticut-based Wheelock Street Capital and Boston-based Camber Development. Construction is underway and expected to be complete in the third quarter.
SALT LAKE CITY — Jones Lang LaSalle Securities (JLLS), a member of JLL Capital Markets, has structured and placed a $112 million credit tenant lease and equipment financing for a newly completed industrial facility located at 6320 W. 300 South in Salt Lake City. JLLS served as placement agent for the developer, Riverbend Management. The lease financing and tenant improvements loan was structured to mature with the initial lease term and provide the borrower a single source of financing at a competitive, long-term, fixed rate. The loan allowed Riverbend Management to refinance an existing construction loan in addition to funding more than $80 million of equipment manufacturing improvements. Following tenant improvements, Riverbend will convert the 309,489-square-foot industrial property into a manufacturing facility. Bill Cavagnaro and Austin Johnson of JLLS represented the borrower in the financing. Additionally, JLL Work Dynamics represented the tenant on selection of the manufacturing site, and JLL Project and Development Services served as construction monitor.
DILLON BEACH, CALIF. — PACE Loan Group has arranged a $4.4 million commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) loan secured by a special assessment for Lawson’s Landing, a RV resort and campground in Dillon Beach, approximately 60 miles northwest of San Francisco. The loan will support the nearly 70-year-old campground’s new wastewater treatment, solar energy and efficiency improvements. The improvements will facilitate and enhance new restrooms and rental cottages at the 608-acre property. C-PACE is a tool that can finance energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements on commercial property. The family-owned and -operated campground features 311 RV and tent sites and a general store. The planned upgrades include installation of a wastewater management system, which will support 20 new cottages and additional restrooms with hot showers. The addition of the wastewater project will eliminate emission-intensive septic waste removal by truck and create operational cost savings of approximately $1.1 million per year. Slated for completion by December, the project received approval from the California Coastal Commission in April 2020. The campground has already completed a new 5,000-square-foot barn, which used part of the C-PACE financing to add a 76.7 kW Photovoltaic system to partially offset the property’s operating energy requirements.
NEW YORK CITY — New Jersey-based intermediary Cronheim Mortgage has arranged a $15.4 million loan for the refinancing of the Hampton Inn Manhattan/Downtown-Financial District. The pet-friendly, recently renovated hotel has 81 rooms and offers amenities such as a fitness center, business center and complimentary breakfast. David Turley led the Cronheim team that arranged the loan through an undisclosed national bank on behalf of the borrower, Virginia-based Shamin Hotels.
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Property Owners Recalibrate Expectations Following Financing Challenge, Shifting Vacancy Rates
High costs, modulating occupancies and a lack of financing options reshaped the industrial, office, retail and multifamily sectors in the fourth quarter of 2023, signaling the determining factors for 2024, according to Lee & Associates’ 2023 Q4 North America Market Report. The industrial sector saw stabilizing tenant demand — the number of new buildings delivered increased in the fourth quarter, while new construction starts slowed. Meanwhile, the office sector’s struggles deepened as more than half of the office leases signed pre-2020 approach their expiration by 2026. With low-rate loans maturing into a high-rate environment, the factors troubling the office sector seem insurmountable in this decade. In the retail market, low vacancies did not lead to booming construction in that sector in the last quarter of 2023 — financing costs plus land and labor costs have hampered new development in spite of high demand. Finally, the health of multifamily markets is tied closely to geography. Sun Belt multifamily properties and their Midwest and Northeastern market counterparts are seeing reversals from the multifamily trends of 2021: formerly fast-growing Sun Belt markets are experiencing slowed rent growth or rent decline, while rent growth for slower-growing, major North and Midwestern metros has grown steadily. Lee & Associates …