LOS ANGELES — Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) has provided approximately $392.4 million in agency financing for three apartment communities in the greater Los Angeles area. The portfolio includes The Medici and The Orsini I in downtown Los Angeles and The Colony Townhomes in Santa Clarita, about 34 miles north of Los Angeles.
Walker & Dunlop closed approximately $233.6 million through Freddie Mac’s Green Up program for the two Los Angeles properties. The Bethesda, Md.-based company also provided a $158.8 million loan through Fannie Mae’s Green Rewards program for the 752-unit community in Santa Clarita.
The other downtown Los Angeles community in the portfolio is Orsini I, part of a three-phase multifamily development on Sunset Boulevard. (Photo courtesy of G.H. Palmer Associates)
G.H. Palmer Associates, the borrower and developer of all three communities, used the funding to refinance the assets. Led by Walker & Dunlop’s Trevor Fase, each transaction provided cash out to the borrower and was structured as a 10-year, non-recourse loan with interest-only payments for the entire term.
The portfolio includes The Colony Townhomes, a 752-unit apartment community in Santa Clarita, Calif. (Photo courtesy of G.H. Palmer Associates)
As part of the green lending programs from the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), G.H. Palmer is also using the proceeds to improve the apartment communities’ energy and/or water efficiency. In order to qualify for the agencies’ green lending programs, borrowers have to plan improvements for at least 25 percent savings in energy or water usage, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the government agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
No improvement plan was disclosed for the portfolio, but typical green improvements include low-flow plumbing fixtures like toilets and showerheads, efficient thermostats, updated lighting fixtures and modernized irrigation systems.
Walker & Dunlop is an experienced green agency lender, having closed over $6.3 billion in green loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2017, quadrupling its 2016 originations in the two programs.
Founded in 1978, G.H. Palmer Associates is a multifamily owner and developer based in Beverly Hills, Calif. The company currently owns a portfolio of over 10,800 apartment units in Southern California valued in excess of $4 billion, according to the company’s website.
— John Nelson