NEW YORK CITY-A multifamily portfolio put together through a joint venture of the locally based Dermot Co. and Des Moines-based Principal Real Estate Advisors has secured a five-year refinancing. The $114-million package of loans was arranged by Meridian Capital, the real estate finance firm said Monday.

The refi covers 34 properties across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. It encompasses 982 rental apartments and eight retail spaces. The lender, a local savings bank, was not disclosed.

In a release, Meridian senior broker Scott Assouline says he and colleague David Farhadian were able to arrange the financing “by articulating the strength and quality of the assets, the operational experience and expertise of the sponsor, and by leveraging one of Meridian’s proprietary lending relationships. The Dermot Co.’s entire deal team, and their legal counsel in particular, contributed greatly to the successful and efficient execution of this loan.” Stephen W. O’Connell and Tracy L. Daniels of Hartman & Craven LLP represented Dermot in this transaction. 

GlobeSt.com reported in June 2006 that Dermot, whose projects include redeveloping the skyline-defining Williamsburg Savings Bank building into the 1 Hanson Place condominium tower in Brooklyn, and Principal entered the JV with an initial commitment of $100 million. The JV had plans to acquire as much as $300 million worth of rent-stabilized apartments locally. John Frandson, managing director of structured equity at Principal, told GlobeSt.com in '06 that the venture intended to “develop a strong investment platform in the New York City multifamily market. Rent-stabilized apartments are an important asset class in New York City.”

A Dermot spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the properties that were refinanced represented a subset of a larger portfolio that the Dermot/Principal JV had put together over the past five years.