WEST LOS ANGELES-Developer Decron Properties of Los Angeles has lined up $120 million in construction financing to begin the Playa Del Oro apartment and retail project, according to Sonnenblick-Eichner Co. Principal Patrick Brown of Sonnenblick-Eichner tells GlobeSt.com that Decron plans a combination of 410 luxury apartments and 27,000 sf of retail space at a prime site at Lincoln Boulevard and Manchester Avenue in the Westchester district.

Brown, who arranged the financing along with principal Elliot Eichner of Sonnenblick-Eichner, says construction is expected to take about 26 months. The development will include a subterranean parking garage for 1,170 cars, along with amenities including a large resort-style pool and sun deck, two outdoor spas, a fitness center, a business center and a coffee bar/lounge. The residential units will include 12 live-work spaces.

Brown notes that the financing marks the second major construction loan that the company has structured recently in which the lender provided non-recourse financing and negotiated a cap on the completion guarantee, thereby limiting the borrower's completion risk exposure. The Decron loan floats 200 basis points over Libor and is for five years.

Brown calls the development parcel "a unique site," noting that Decron saw the potential in it as a multifamily development project when it acquired the 15-acre site in 2002. The 15 acres included a hotel called the Furama that Decron sold last year to locally based Palisdades Development Group, which is renovating and repositioning it, according to a GlobeSt.com report.