FRISCO, TX-A Dallas-based developer is paying $9.65 million for 44.23 acres at the far northern edge of the Dallas North Tollway extension. The development dirt is a strong candidate for residential, retail and office space.

White Rock Capital Inc., the real estate arm of T&M Management Services, has picked up $7.6 million from Chicago-based ORIX Real Estate Capital Inc. to cover site acquisition plus pre-development and holding costs. The mixed-use project, still unnamed, is roughly 15 to 18 months from a construction start near the tollway's end and US Highway 380, according to Michael Huffman, ORIX's senior vice president of debt and structure finance.

"It's still speculative because it's land. There's a lot of work that they need to do," Huffman tells GlobeSt.com. "It's an open drawing board for well-located land. But, we're pretty confident because of where it's located."

Huffman says White Rock Capital is buying the land in an off-market deal with a local farmer, but he's uncertain if it's the Mahard family, which has been selling its acreage to retail power players and the City of Frisco for the past year. He says the ORIX-funded loan has a two-year term with a one-year extension option at a floating-rate interest exceeding 300 basis points above Libor.

Huffman and Michael Alexander, vice president in ORIX's Dallas office, arranged the financing at a 65% loan-to-cost ratio. John Rose in Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's Dallas office was the mortgage broker.

ORIX doesn't often fund land deals, but the location was the dealmaker as was the borrower and his plan, Huffman explains. And when it's time to build, ORIX gets "first shot at providing financing for the development," he adds.