NEW ORLEANS — Walker & Dunlop has provided a $23 million Freddie Mac permanent financing loan for The Reveal, a 150-unit affordable housing community in eastern New Orleans. Upon completion, The Reveal will offer one- through four-bedroom floor plans, each with a balcony. Communal amenities will include conference rooms, a community room, fitness center and a therapy room. The community will also feature a 1,745-square-foot business incubator, which caters residents wanting to launch their own businesses. Heather Olson of Walker & Dunlop originated the loan on behalf of the developer, Commonwealth Cos. National Equity Fund is an equity partner with the developer. Sterling Bank, the Louisiana Housing Corp. and the Housing Authority of New Orleans are providing additional funding. A timeline for completion was not disclosed.
BATON ROUGE, LA. — Franklin Street has arranged the $12.4 million acquisition and renovation financing for Physicians Medical Center, a 76,370-square-foot medical office and hospital campus in Baton Rouge. The three-story facility features a hospital on the first floor and 44,984 square feet of leasable medical office space at the time of sale. The buyer, New Era Cos., plans to implement property renovations. Following the project, Oceans Healthcare Outpatient Services will anchor the property. A local ophthalmology office and a division of the Louisiana Departments of Health and Capital Area Human Services will also lease space at the facility. Ben Miller and Casey Siggins of Franklin Street represented the buyer in the financial transaction. The seller and lender were not disclosed.
DENHAM SPRINGS, LA. — Brookwood Properties LLC will open a 1,100-unit self-storage facility the first week of June in Denham Springs. The four-story building will span 130,000 square feet and offer climate-controlled units. The Baton Rouge, La.-based developer broke ground on the project in May 2019. Baton Rouge-based Rosehill Construction LLC is the general contractor. Buffalo, N.Y.-based Life Storage will manage the property upon completion. The facility is located at 100 Rushing Road, 15 miles east of downtown Baton Rouge. This will be Brookwood’s 50th facility in its portfolio.
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Redevelopment Fund (NORF) has received a $45 million loan to convert the Warwick Hotel in downtown New Orleans into student housing for Tulane University medical students. The 12-story building will offer 154 units that are expected to be move-in ready by August 2021. The property is situated at 1315 Gravier St., adjacent to Tulane University Medical School. Tulane University has signed a long-term lease with NORF. The community will feature ground-level retail space, a full-service restaurant, coffee shop and patio seating. As part of the $45 million construction loan, Hancock Whitney Bank provided bridge financing and Midland State Bank provided Historic Tax Credits to the developer. The Warwick Hotel was originally built in 1952 and has sat dormant since Hurricane Katrina hit the city. Hernandez Consulting & Construction will serve as the general contractor, and Albert Architecture and SCNZ are the project’s architects.
YOUNGSVILLE, LA. — Greystone has provided a $25.3 million HUD 221(d)(4) loan for the construction of Sugar Mill Villas Apartments, a planned 164-unit multifamily community in Youngsville. The non-recourse, fixed-rate loan will fund 85 percent of the project. The loan will automatically convert to a 40-year, fully amortizing permanent loan upon stabilization. The community will be situated at 1931 Chemin Metairie Parkway, within the master-planned Sugar Mill Pond neighborhood. Sugar Mill Villas will also be located near the Youngsville Sports Complex, a $20 million, 70-acre development. A timeline for construction of Sugar Mill Villas was not disclosed. The borrower was also not disclosed.
NEW ORLEANS — Provident Realty Advisors, a Dallas-based developer, has opened Canal 1535, a 330-unit multifamily building in the central business district (CBD) of New Orleans. Canal 1535 features one- and two-bedroom apartments. Amenities include a fitness center, parking garage and heated swimming pool. The property is now leasing to new residents, with rents ranging from approximately $1,500 to $3,700. The total development cost is estimated at $85 million. The building is situated on Canal Street in the heart of New Orleans, near Tulane University Medical School and Louisiana State University School of Medicine. The property is located blocks from the French Quarter, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, and offers convenient access to public transportation via the Regional Transit Authority streetcar line. Julie Valley, asset manager at Provident, says that the building is intended to serve the growing workforce in the CBD, including native New Orleanians and those moving to the city for work. The economic outlook for 2020 is forecasting an additional 9,400 jobs in the city, an increase of 1.6 percent, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. — Alex Patton
BATON ROUGE, LA. — Azad Commercial Realty Services LLC has acquired Hammond Aire Plaza, a 349,660-square-foot retail center in Baton Rouge. The property was 97 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Burlington, Marshalls, Michaels and Stein Mart. Albertsons shadow anchors the center. Hammond Aire Plaza is located at 9616-9638 Airline Highway, seven miles east of downtown Baton Rouge. Mark Gilbert and Fain Hicks of Cushman & Wakefield represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction.
RUSTON, LA. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has provided a $23.2 million Freddie Mac refinancing loan for University Crossing Apartments, a 552-bed student housing community located near Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. Hayley Suminski and Amanda Kutia of KeyBank originated the floating-rate financing on behalf of the borrower, WFInvestments. The loan features a 10-year term with three years of interest-only payments. Communal amenities include a pool, sundeck, 24-hour fitness center, clubhouse, study lounge, bicycle parking, a community kitchen and upright tanning beds. The garden-style community is currently undergoing renovations.
NEW ORLEANS — PGIM Real Estate Finance has provided a $10.7 million HUD loan to refinance St. Margaret’s Daughters Home, a nonprofit skilled nursing facility located in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. St. Margaret’s Daughters Home was constructed in 2013 and sits on the site of the former Lindy Boggs Medical Center, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The $33 million construction of the new facility was initially financed using a capital stack of New Market Tax Credits (NMTC), Historic Tax Credits (HTC), OCD Loan Funds, FEMA grant money, bank loan funds and sponsor equity. Through this refinancing, PGIM Real Estate Finance led the borrower in reducing and simplifying its existing debt via the HUD loan. St. Margaret’s Daughters Home features 100 rooms designed for occupancy by up to 112 residents. There are seven acute-care hospitals located within five miles of the property. St. Margaret’s Daughters Home is home to Team Gleason House, one of only two advanced-technology centers in the United States with dedicated design features for patients with ALS. Former New Orleans Saints football player Steve Gleason founded Team Gleason House.
NEW ORLEANS — A joint venture between Texas-based NewcrestImage and Columbia, Md.-based Baywood Hotels will develop Canopy by Hilton, a 176-room hotel in downtown New Orleans. The 14-story hotel will be at the site of the former Oil and Gas Building, which was built in 1959 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 for its innovative use of glass, steel and abstract geometry in a skyscraper. The hotel will be situated at 1100 Tulane Ave., adjacent to the French Quarter. Canopy by Hilton will feature a fine-dining concept and meeting space with an outdoor terrace. The joint venture will begin construction in early February with a planned completion date in summer 2021.