Berkadia Secures $61M in Debt, Equity for Savannah Development
The project is taking shape amid a population boom in the area.
Bayline Development has received $60.75 million in debt and equity financing to build Mosaic Pooler, a 333-unit Class A multifamily community located in Pooler, Ga., a suburb of Savannah. The project is slated for completion in May 2027.
Berkadia secured a $47.5 million three-year, floating-rate loan from Bank OZK on behalf of the developer. The firm also arranged for FCP to provide a $13.25 million preferred equity investment on a fully-accruing basis.
The Berkadia team included Senior Managing Director Mitch Sinberg of the Boca Raton, Fla., office; Managing Director Scott Wadler of the Miami office; Director Bryan Brown of the Tampa, Fla., office; and Senior Managing Director Robert Falese and Director Jake Adoni, both from Berkadia’s Philadelphia office.
Berkadia cited the sponsor’s strong track record and the demand for quality workforce housing in the Savannah metro for both the debt and equity investments.
For FCP, a Chevy Chase, Md.,-based privately held real estate investment company, the preferred equity investment broadens the firm’s presence in Georgia and capitalizes on the strength of a strong submarket for suburban development in the Savannah MSA. FCP officials noted Bayline Development has ownership experience in the submarket and Bank OKZ is a leading construction lender as other reasons for their investment.
Project details
Mosaic Pooler is being built within Mosaic Town Center, a 170-acre mixed-use, master-planned community with walkable amenities and commuter connectivity. The new HCA Healthcare and Galen College of Nursing campus is set to open in the fall at Mosaic Town Center. Other demand drivers include the newly-opened $7.6 billion Hyundai auto plant in nearby Ellabell, Ga., and the Port of Savannah, both 30 minutes away from Pooler. Located near other employment clusters, the property is approximately 1 mile from Interstate 16 and 14 miles west of downtown Savannah.
An affiliate of Bayline acquired the 12-acre site at 800 High Ave. in 2023. The development will feature a Coastal Carolina design and include four-story, elevator-serviced buildings. Mosaic Pooler will have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging about 1,000 square feet of space. The property will also have three-story carriage houses with garages on the ground floor.
Community amenities will include a pool with a large outdoor patio, cabanas and grill stations as well as a fitness center with yoga room, game room, resident lounge and coworking spaces. Other offerings are dog park, pet spa, package locker system and EV charging stations.
Pooler’s population boom
The population of Pooler has grown 4.2 percent per year over the last five years with the city’s population of nearly 30,000 increasing fivefold since 2000. Fueled primarily by the growth at Hyundai’s Metaplant America, which encompasses more than 16 million square feet of manufacturing space, Pooler could see another 25,000 to 28,000 residents moving to the area over the next five years, according to the Savannah Business Journal.
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The Savannah multifamily market fundamentals improved in the first quarter of 2025 as supply and demand dynamics have begun to rebalance, according to MMG Real Estate Advisors. MMG’s first-quarter Savannah market report notes that annual rent growth returned to positive territory at 0.4 percent after declines in late 2024. The average rent for the first quarter was $1,724. First-quarter occupancy rate was 91.9 percent, slightly below the 10-year average of 93.3 percent, but another sign of stabilization suggesting “that the impact of the earlier oversupply is beginning to ease,” the report stated.
In Pooler, Vista Residential Partners began construction in March on Clear Lake Vista, a 297-unit Class A property in the 181-acre Clear Lake Reserve community. Clear Lake Vista is about 13 miles west of Savannah and 12 miles southeast of the Hyundai Metaplant.
Also in March, Woodfield Development completed EmmaJames, a 280-unit property in Savannah. It is the first multifamily property in the mixed-use Savannah Harbor master-planned community.
