Loan originator Warren Griess of Love Funding in Los Angeles tells GlobeSt.com that developer Richard Paek will be offering all three types of condos when Berendo Tower is completed at the southwest corner of Sixth and Berendo streets. Construction is expected to take about 18 months.

Griess arranged a construction loan of nearly $15.4 million through IndyMac Bank of California. He says the loan has a competitive rate for 18 months, with a six-month extension option at the end.

According to Griess, the project will include 77 residential condominiums atop 9,000 sf of ground-floor office and retail condos. The project is also unusual, he notes, in that it is one of the first of its kind to be built above the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's subway system. The development required extensive review and approvals from the MTA before it could proceed, he says.

Berendo Tower has been designed by OML Architects of Los Angeles, with 2E Construction of Los Angeles hired as the general contractor. Griess notes Paek also is the owner of the 26-unit Wilshire Plaza condominiums in Koreatown, which sold out before its opening.

Love Funding Corp. is a 125-year-old, national mortgage banking firm with offices in nine US cities. The company arranges construction, refinancing and acquisition funding for multifamily, retail, office, industrial, hospitality and health-care properties through such capital sources as conduits, life companies, FNMA, FHLMC and FHA.