O'Donnell

DENVER-Borrowers have landed $56 million in new loans for a variety of properties here, including loans for mixed-use office-retail buildings and ground leases under office buildings account for more than $47 million of the total. The loans included CMBS and life company financings, according to the Denver office of Johnson Capital, which arranged the loans.

The two largest of the five deals were a $24.05 million loan on five mixed-use, office-over-retail buildings on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder and a $23.645 million loan on a portfolio of four ground lease properties underneath four office buildings leased to the General Services Administration. The Boulder portfolio comprises 49,046 square feet of retail space and 83,512 square feet of office space. The five-year, fixed-rate note on that deal has a 30-year amortization schedule and is a non-recourse CMBS loan that was provided by Natixis and arranged by Brady O’Donnell, a principal in Johnson Capital’s Denver office.

1401 Pearl St.

The properties leased by the GSA are in Colorado, California and New Mexico and are owned by Aardex, which developed the buildings before selling the leasehold interests. The 10-year, fixed rate loan has a 30-year amortization schedule and a loan to value ratio of 75%. The loan was provided by Goldman Sachs and was arranged by Mike Cantwell, managing director in Johnson's Denver office.

The other three included a $3.4 million loan on a fully leased, 72,590-square-foot multi-tenant suburban office building in Englewood, CO; a $3.25 million loan on a 16,007-square-foot shadow-anchored retail center in Broomfield, CO owned by a local private investor and a 2.045 million financing on a 20,572-square-foot single-tenant Office Depot in Arvada, CO.

The Englewood financing was a non-recourse, 10-year fixed-rate loan that was provided by a life company and arranged by O’Donnell. The Broomfield deal was for a property that was built in 2008 and is 100% leased to six different tenants. The non-recourse debt is a 15-year, fully amortizing life company loan that was placed by O’Donnell. The loan on the Office Depot is for 10 years at a fixed-rate and was also provided by a life company and arranged by O’Donnell.

Commenting about the transactions and current market conditions, O’Donnell said, “The Denver Real Estate Market has survived the worst of the storm and we are fortunate to have navigated through what has been a very difficult time for commercial real estate investors across the country. The low interest rate environment and improving market fundamentals have helped to jump-start the thawing of commercial debt and we are looking forward to another successful year in 2011.”