PLEASANT HILL, CA-DJM Capital Partners of San Jose has refinanced its 137,232-square-foot Ellinwood Office Complex here with a $24.5-million CMBS loan that provides permanent financing, according to George Smith Partners of Century City, CA, which arranged the financing. The property is a three-building complex adjacent to the 680 Freeway at 300, 400 and 500 Ellinwood Way that is 100% leased to Contra Costa County for 18 years.

GSP principal and managing director Steve Bram refers to the financing as "our first ‘CMBS 2.0’ loan." Bram explains that GSP has "coined the phrase CMBS 2.0 to describe the return of CMBS lending after the financial meltdown of 2008-2009.” The DJM loan is for five years, non-recourse, at a 5.6% interest rate.

Bram notes that he and David Pascale, a senior vice president at GSP, originally arranged the acquisition bridge financing for the property in 2006 when DJM bought it. At the time, the property was completely vacant.

“Now, four years later, the property is fully stabilized and we have put permanent financing on the property which allows the borrower to pay off the bridge loan," Bram says. He notes that the GSP team marketed the request to over 30 lenders "in this tough financing market" to find the right lender.

DJM, which owns 2.7 million square feet of commercial space, bought the property for $22 million, according to a GlobeSt.com report at the time, which said that the San Jose company planned to invest $16.5 million in renovations. Contra Costa County signed a 20-year, $57-million lease for the property in 2008 on behalf of its Employee Human Services Division. The property is a 9.5-acre development is part of a master-planned community that includes restaurants, retail and housing, hiking trails, parks and JFK University.