O.Z. Navigator Secures $112M Loan for Seattle Project
This mixed-income community will help address the city’s critical shortage of affordable housing.
900 Rainier. Rendering courtesy of Northmarq
Borrower O.Z. Navigator has obtained a $112 million construction loan to develop 900 Rainier, a mixed-income apartment community intended to meet some of the affordable housing challenges of Seattle, Wash. The eight-story community at 900 Rainier South will feature 396 apartments and ground-floor retail space. Northmarq arranged financing on behalf of O.Z. Navigator through its affiliation with Mack Real Estate Group.
“Rising interest rates and general uncertainty in the market have caused many lenders to push pause on issuing new construction loans,” Jake Leibsohn, senior vice president of debt and equity with Northmarq, told Multi-Housing News.
“When we signed up this loan, the market was already moving, so it was extremely important to both us and the client that we picked a lender we felt confident in. We found that lending partner in Mack Real Estate Group, (which) ultimately came through.”
The developer, Nitze-Stagen, broke ground on the apartment community earlier this month. The development will be part of the company’s multifamily portfolio focused on developing high-quality, transit-oriented, mixed-income rental housing.
Affordable rents
The apartment community will offer 41 Mandatory Housing Affordability and 81 Multi-Family Tax Exemption apartment units. The community’s assortment of floor plans will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment homes. Features and finishes include 12.-1/2-foot-high ceilings in loft residences. Rents on apartments will start as low as 40 percent of area median income. Resident courtyards are among the common-area amenities offered in the 900 Rainier development.
The 289,000-square-foot multifamily development site will occupy the same block as 1130 Rainier Avenue South, O.Z. Navigator’s other property. It will be located within walking distance of the Judkins Park Station, which will open this year on the Link Light Rail. It will also be across the street from SDOT bus lines.
Several months ago, Northmarq brokered a sale of a Phoenix-area manufactured housing community.
