Detroit Builder Lands $79M Loan for Luxury Project

City Club Detroit. Rendering courtesy of Asia Capital Real Estate

Development and management venture City Club Apartments has obtained a $78.5 million bridge loan to assist the final phase of construction on its 288-unit, luxury apartment community in downtown Detroit. Private equity firm Asia Capital Real Estate (ACRE) provided the loan through its ACRE Credit debt fund.

Currently 95 percent complete, the six-story City Club Detroit project at 1501 Washington Blvd. is slated to welcome its first residents as early as December. The building, which already pre-leased about 40 percent of its residential units, will also include 11,291 square feet of retail space.

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The community offers a mix of high-end duplex and townhome units with custom walk-in closets, kitchens with granite countertops and islands, private terraces or balconies and a 410-space parking garage. Amenities of the class A project include a fitness center, clubroom, indoor/outdoor pool with hot tub, outdoor movie theater and event space as well as green building certification.

Built on the site of a demolished historic hotel in Grand Circus Park, the project broke ground at the start of 2018. The community is less than a mile north of the Detroit River and within walking distance of Times Square and the Financial District. CCA has already secured Premier Pet Supply and restaurant Statler Bistro for the building’s ground-floor retail space.

Repeat business

The new financing marks ACRE’s second loan to City Club Apartments in recent months, after the company provided a $68.5 million refinancing of CCA Central Business District Cincinnati in a transaction finalized in August. The loan for the 294-unit, Class A community was underwritten with a LTV ratio of 63.4 percent with a two-year year term and two single-year extension options.

ACRE, which has offices in Atlanta, New York and Singapore, manages a global portfolio of more than $1 billion primarily focuses on U.S. multifamily assets. The company has recently provided financing for developers Sovereign Properties in Texas and Wood Partners in Miami.

City Club Apartments, which owns 10 other properties in Detroit, develops and manages more than 30 multifamily properties worth more than $2 billion across seven states. This past January, the company kicked off a $25 million redevelopment of Elmwood Park Plaza, a 202-unit community in Detroit which has been rebranded as City Club Apartments Lafayette Park.