TODAY’s DEALS: Citizens Bank Backs Major Mid-Western Student Housing
An apartment, student housing and retail project lands construction financing, and will Meridian Capital arrange funding for a New York City portfolio?
Chicago—Citizens Bank has provided a $50 million construction loan to an affiliate of Blue Vista Capital Management for a mixed-use rental project serving the University of Chicago and the Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods. Construction of the $75 million project kicked off back in May. Vue53 is being developed by Avison Young (Mesa Development), Peak Campus Development and Blue Vista. Completion is slated for September 2016.
When complete, the project will feature 267 units with a total of 403 beds and 28,000 square feet of ground floor retail, as well as 225 parking spaces. Housing will available to local residents as well as University of Chicago graduate students.
Citizens Bank is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and has roughly $137 billion in assets. Blue Vista Capital is a Chicago-based investment manager that has participated in joint ventures representing over $5.7 billion in total capitalization. Avison Young is a Toronto-based real estate services firm that acquired Chicago-based Mesa Development this past April. Atlanta-headquartered Peak Campus Development is the second largest privately owned student housing manager in the United States with 43,000 beds under management.
Meridian Capital arranges funding for NYC portfolio
New York—Meridian Capital Group arranged $40 million in financing for a 600-unit multifamily portfolio located in New York and Brooklyn, N.Y.
The 15-year, $40 million self-liquidating balance sheet financing package features a rate of 3.25 percent and favorable prepayment terms. This transaction was negotiated by Meridian Senior Vice President Jacob Schmuckler and Vice President Sam Shifer, who are both based in the company’s New York City headquarters.
The properties in the portfolio are located on Riverside Drive, West 135th Street and West 141st Street in the Harlem area of New York and on Linden Boulevard, Tennis Court and Ocean Avenue in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Prospect Park South areas of Brooklyn, N.Y.
“Meridian custom tailored this low-leverage self-liquidating balance sheet financing package for an active real estate dynasty. This loan is in line with a trend we are seeing where well-established and long-term holders of real estate are gravitating toward self-liquidating loans to maintain equity and avail themselves of very favorable rates for this product,” said Schmuckler.
