OAKLAND, CA-Multifamily real estate company, Wood Partners LLC,has arranged all of the financing necessary to resume developmentof City Walk, an apartment/retail project in downtown Oakland.Construction on the project—which has sat idle for three yearsafter the original general contractor went bankrupt—is set to startin a week.

Wood Partners purchased the distressed property of City Walk inlate 2009 from the Olson Co. for $5 million, and since then hasworked to raise more than $30 million in construction debt andassemble regulatory approvals to complete the project. “It’s been along road, with a number of complex issues to resolve, so it’s verygratifying to reach this point,” says Frank Middleton, director ofthe west coast division of Wood Partners. “Now we'll be able tofulfill the potential of this project and deliver a true asset todowntown Oakland.”

The Los Angeles and San Francisco offices of Holliday FenoglioFowler arranged a $26.5 million construction loan for City Walk onbehalf of Wood Partners, to secure construction-permanent financingthrough a life insurance company. The HFF deal team included PaulBrindley, Kevin Redford, Todd Sugimoto, Mark Sixour and Wally Reid.The deal was structured with a recourse burn-off at stabilizationand no prepay penalty providing maximum flexibility for theborrower, according to HFF. “The City Walk project is anticipatedto achieve very compelling returns as Wood Partners acquired it atsuch an attractive basis,” Redford said.