GUEST COLUMN: Despite Doubts, Sources Exist for Multifamily Construction Loans
By Lucas MatesaReznick Group, P.C. The financial crisis has impacted many facets of the economy, including the multifamily housing sector. In a market where liquidity had been reliant on commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), the credit markets have frozen up and few commercial lenders are available. Many borrowers will face debt maturing in the near future, with uncertainty about options surrounding refinancing, and new projects being stalled as a result of lack of capital.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also historically been large players in providing liquidity in multifamily housing financing, but there is concern that under federal conservatorship, they…
Northland Investment Expects Its Vacancies to Fall With Roll Out of Rent Assurance Program
By Anuradha Kher, Online New EditorNewton, Mass.–Northland Investment Corp. has launched its Rent Assurance Program (RAP), which will allow a resident to walk away from his or her lease, without paying termination fees, in case he/she loses his or her income involuntarily. RAP is a program similar to the ones that many other multifamily developers have rolled out since the economy starting slowing down. It will apply to Northland’s entire multifamily portfolio, which includes 16,670 units in nine states—Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, and Arizona. However, it will be offered to new move-ins and…
Pinnacle, Samsung Sign MOU for Future Military Housing Efforts in South Korea
SEOUL, Korea–Chief Executive Officers Sang Dae Lee of Samsung and Stan Harrelson of the Pinnacle Family of Cos. signed two Memorandums of Understanding, one memorializing the terms of an exclusive partnership to work jointly on all future military housing projects on the Korean peninsula for the next five years and the second one establishing an Employee Internship Exchange Program. Through this program, highly motivated Samsung employees will intern with Pinnacle in the U.S. “The signing of these two MOUs is symbolic of the growing cooperation between Pinnacle and Samsung,” says Harrelson. “Our two firms have been working together on very…
MARKET SNAPSHOT: The Little Gem Known as Salt Lake City
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate Editor Salt Lake City—For those buyers looking for distressed assets in Salt Lake City’s multifamily market, don’t get your hopes up.“We are seeing people waiting on the sidelines for distressed properties to come to market. In Salt Lake City, that’s not what you want to be doing,” advises Richard Bird, regional manager of the Salt Lake City office of Marcus & Millichap. “There’s not a lot of distress,” he adds.That’s not to say that no one is struggling in the metro area, though. In fact, notes Bird, “those struggling are selling, but we are not seeing…
Condo/Co-op Prices Rise in April Due to Increased Sales of Foreclosed/Distressed Properties
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–Existing-home sales—including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops—increased 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million units in April from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million units in March, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Despite the increase, the number is 3.5 percent below the 4.85 million-unit level in April 2008. Existing condominium and co-op sales increased 6.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 500,000 units in April from 470,000 in March, but are 9.4 percent lower than the 552,000-unit pace a year ago. The median existing…
TODAY’S DEALS: NorthMarq Capital Arranges $28.64M Sale and $23.599M Financing for 486-Unit Rental Community, and Other Transactions
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew Britain, Conn.–NorthMarq Capital’s Capital Services Group East and NorthMarq Capital’s Miami office recently arranged both the sale of and first mortgage financing for Pebblebrook Apartments (pictured), a 486-unit multifamily property, located in New Britain, Conn. The property was purchased for $28.64 million. The financing of $23.599 million was based on a 10-year term with a 30-year amortization schedule with one-year interest only. NorthMarq arranged the financing for the borrower through its seller-servicer relationship with Freddie Mac. Arbor Closes $3,442,500 Fannie Mae DUS LoanGreenville, N.C.–Arbor Commercial Funding LLC recently completed funding of a $3,442,500 loan…
Slim Cooktop from Gaggenau Ideal for MF Kitchens
Ideal for an urban space or unusually shaped kitchen, Gaggenau’s slim CE 490 electric cooktop measures 36-in. wide and 13.5-in. deep. The rectangular-shaped unit opens up valuable counter space, while providing powerful cooking capabilities, a feature that makes it ideal for small multifamily kitchens.The cooktop features four ergonomically placed cooking areas and frying sensor technology that works in conjunction with special frying sensor pans to keep oil at an ideal temperature, preventing overheating, smoke and splashes. Automatic cooking times of up to 99 minutes can be simultaneously set for each cooking zone, and individual residual heat indicators, as well as…
Columbus Square’s First Phase Will Include One of NYC’s Largest Solar Panel Arrays
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNew York—Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group’s Columbus Square, a green mixed-use community comprised of five buildings, 710 apartments and 300,000 sq. ft. of retail space, is set to open two of its buildings this summer.The 15-story, 100-unit 801 Amsterdam Avenue and the 29-story, 359-unit 808 Columbus Avenue are slated for delivery this summer, with the 12-story, 56-unit 775 Columbus Avenue, the 15-story, 132-unit 795 Columbus Avenue and the 14-story, 63-unit 805 Columbus Avenue slated to follow within the next 12 months. Roughly one building is slated to open every three months for the next year,…
After Lull in Sales, Auction Helps Condo Community Sell 43 Units
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–An auction held at the Cosmopolitan at Buckhead helped the condominium project sell 43 units in two hours. Over 250 people attended the event. The 244-unit Cosmopolitan has been on the market since early 2007, but after the credit crisis hit and the economy started slowing down, demand for the condos dipped too. Now, about 50 units remain unsold.After observing a couple of other buildings auctioning their units, developer Morris J. Kaplan Communities decided to have an auction for Cosmopolitan.“We started to see a decrease in demand due to uncertainty in the economy, fall in…
Freddie Mac Launches New Finance Product for Multi-Housing Sector
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorMcLean, Va.–Freddie Mac has launched Series K-003 Structured Pass-Through Certificates (“K Certificates”), multifamily mortgage-backed securities that provide a new vehicle for the agency to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the multi-housing market in the U.S.The K Certificates are backed by approximately $1 billion in multifamily mortgage loans originated through Freddie Mac’s Capital Markets Execution (CME) program. They will be offered to the market by a network of dealers led by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. The K Certificates, which are expected to settle in June 2009, are backed by 62 recently originated multifamily mortgages and…