The 90,643-sf Stone Gate Plaza, a 99%-leased project on 10.2 acres at 1044 S. Crowley Rd., changed hands in a 45-day cycle, according to Todd McNeill, senior director of Metropolitan Capital Advisors Ltd. in Dallas. "It's such a class A project that it wasn't very hard to sell," he adds.

McNeill and Margaux's founder Don Silverman worked the sale on their own although it's not part of Metropolitan's usual service line-up. "This was very unusual for us to do," McNeill tells GlobeSt.com. "We were facilitating for a very, very good client."

McNeill says Three Rivers Holding came to the table with 1031 exchange money, but he's not certain about the source. "We were on deadline, but we weren't up against the gun or anything like that," he explains. He adds that Stone Gate was earmarked as the replacement product shortly before the exchange cleared the closing table, an offshoot of the buyer cold calling Metropolitan's office in search of a stabilized shopping center. "It was one of those shots in the dark," he says about the buyer-seller matchmaking.

McNeill says Silverman had renewed all upcoming lease rolls in the eight-year-old Stone Gate Plaza just before the sale. Kroger's lease for 68% of the class A retail space doesn't expire until 2023.

McNeill placed the loan with Viewpoint Bank in Plano, which he says has surfaced as an alternative to the conduit loan fall-out. The bank has five- and seven-year loans available with fixed-rate, non-recourse terms. Three Rivers got a five-year loan at a 6.5% fixed interest and flexible prepayment, McNeill says."This particular borrower wanted so much flexibility with this loan that Viewpoint Bank was the only one that worked," McNeill says. Additional terms are one year of interest-only payments and a 30-year amortization schedule.

The exchange funds, Kroger's long-term lease and creditworthiness and the asset quality had the right mix that the bank "was willing to give some things to the borrower," McNeill says. "The lender got a favorable asset at a favorable LTV and the borrower got a flexible loan, making it a win-win for both parties."