TODAY’S DEALS: Centerline Provides $328M Structure to Finance Portfolio in Suburban Washington, D.C.

New York—Centerline Capital Group provided a $328 million Freddie Mac CME structure to finance a portfolio of eight multifamily properties located in the suburban Washington, D.C. area. The deal represents the largest financing transaction closed this year by Centerline and one of the largest group of loans financed this year by Freddie Mac.

The current owner, DP Portfolio Investors LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between affiliates of Pantzer Properties and Dune Real Estate Partners (and their respective funds), purchased the portfolio early in 2011.

Jason Pantzer, co-president of Pantzer Properties says, “Centerline’s team did an excellent job on the execution of a large and complex transaction. Their team was terrific, reasonable, smart and creative.”

David Oliner, managing director of Dune Real Estate Partners adds, “We were very pleased to be able to capitalize on the low-interest rate environment and close on a financing that maximizes flexibility for our investment.”

Known as “The Point DC Portfolio,” the eight properties are located in: Alexandria, Ashburn, Herndon, Leesburg and Manassas, Va., and in Gaithersburg and Germantown, Mad.  The eight properties comprise 2,580 units.

“We are delighted with The Point DC Portfolio transaction, our largest deal in 2011. Our mortgage finance professionals have years of real estate experience and are adept at dealing with multiple property portfolios, complicated borrower structures and agency financing. In particular, this portfolio’s location, assets and institutional sponsorship were of the highest quality,” says William Hyman, senior managing director, and Mortgage Banking Group head.

John Beam, leader of Centerline’s Atlanta team that structured the transaction comments, “This was a highly complex transaction with a relatively short period of time to execute from an August rate lock. With the tireless help of the sponsor, Freddie Mac and a number of Centerline professionals, we were pleased to close on time as promised.”

Campus Crest Announces Four Additional Developments

Charlotte, N.C.—Campus Crest Communities Inc. has announced four additional student housing properties that are scheduled for delivery in the 2012/2013 academic year. Campus Crest previously announced plans for two new developments, brining the grand total of deliveries for the next academic year to six communities.

“All six projects are the culmination of hard work by our team members, diligent underwriting and the synergies resulting from the company’s vertically integrated platform,” says Ted Rollins, co-chairman and chief executive officer at Campus Crest. “Having built all 33 properties in our portfolio over the past seven years, we continue to refine our development, construction, leasing and management processes.”

Rollins adds that the new properties will have a higher bed-count than the firm’s existing portfolio average.

Three of the communities for the 2012/2013 academic year are wholly owned. Their expected construction cost is $84.7 million. Three of the communities are joint venture projects that will be developed in partnership with Harris Street Real Estate Capital for $72.1 million. Campus Crest owns a 10 percent interest in those developments.

Wholly-owned projects include:

• The Grove at Auburn, a 600-bed community at Auburn University.
• The Grove at Flagstaff, a 584-unit community at Northern Arizona University.
• The Grove at Orono, a 620-unit community at University of Maine.

Joint venture projects include:

• The Grove at Fayetteville, a 632-bed property at University of Arkansas.
• The Grove at Laramie, a 612-bed community at University of Wyoming.
• The Grove at Stillwater, a 612-bed community at Oklahoma State University.

Beech Street Closes $12.5M Refinance for Two SoCal Communities

Santa Clara & La Habra, Calif.—Beech Street Capital has provided $12.5 million in Fannie Mae loans to refinance two apartment complexes, Normandy Park and Casa La Habra, both located in Southern California. Greg Reed and Kristen Croxton originated the transactions. The pair recently opened Beech Street’s Newport Beach office.

The borrower was the original owner of both Normandy Park Apartments, an 88-unit community in Santa Clara, Calif., and Casa La Habra Apartments, a 65-unit community located in La Habra, Calif. Both properties were built in the 1960s and enjoy occupancy rates above 95 percent.

“Allowing the multi-asset ownership entity to remain intact was very important to the borrower,” says Croxton. “It saved the borrower from potential tax consequences of creating new ownership entities and transferring assets.”

The new loans have lower interest rates than the borrower’s existing financing and provided cash out for property improvements. The fixed-rate Fannie Mae conventional loans have a 10-year term with a 9.5-year yield maintenance and a 30-year amortization schedule.