Biggs Group JV Lands $99M for Indiana Community
The financing package includes a Freddie Mac note.
Biggs Groups, Ancora, Weigand Construction and MSquare have landed a $99 million financing package for The Elex, a 296-unit, mixed-income workforce housing community in Fort Wayne, Ind. The property came online in April.
The debt and tax credit equity financing include a $34.4 million Freddie Mac Non-LIHTC Forward permanent loan and a $55.5 million construction and equity bridge note from Merchants Bank. Merchants Capital, which secured the funding, also provided $9.5 million in federal LIHTC equity.
The Elex is the second phase of The Electric Works redevelopment, a campus consisting of 18 historical buildings. Upon completion, the master plan will have office, residential, hotel, retail, entertainment and education components, along with innovation space.
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Set to come online in three phases, the redevelopment is taking shape on General Electric’s former complex. The company used the space for most of the 20th century but, following its slow decline, seized operations at the location in 2015. The campus comprised more than 1.3 million square feet of facilities.
The Elex, up close
The community provides housing to employees working in the West Campus, the first phase of Electric Works. The pair of five-story buildings have one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans ranging from 550 to 1,402 square feet. A total of 89 units are set aside for residents earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income, while the rest of the units are rented at market rate.
The property also has about 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Common-area amenities include a community room, bistro lounge and coffee bar, courtyard, playground and an outdoor entertainment area and sports courts. Plans also call for a fitness and wellness center, as well as an early childhood learning center.
In the first quarter of this year, multifamily loan originations rose 49 percent year-over-year, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report. However, this figure dropped 28 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of last year.
