RICHMOND-Parmenter Realty Partners has secured a $43.3-million loan from NorthStar Income to recapitalize existing debt on its SunTrust Plaza complex here. CBRE Capital Markets arranged the permanent financing. Terms include a three-year, interest only amortization, an LTV of 70% and an "aggressive" interest rate.

If these sound like excellent terms, well, they are. Yet the refi market can be difficult, even for such assets and borrowers as SunTrust and NorthStar. “Most bridge lenders haven’t expanded in size or capacity and have limited amounts of capital to put out,” CBRE vice chairman Charles Foschini tells GlobeSt.com. “Therefore they're focusing on new acquisitions. As the market returns to equilibrium that should change, but at the moment that's not the case.”

Foschini, along with colleagues Christopher Apone and Christian Lee, represented the borrower in the refinancing. The SunPlaza transaction was able to close, he continues, “because the lender understood the momentum of the market.” Proceeds from the loan will be used to lease the property to full capacity and reposition it for either a sale or permanent financing.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s decision to launch yet another round of quantitative easing will not necessarily help matters, Foschini also says. Rather, the market will just have to continue its slow march to healing. “The lending environment continues to improve in baby steps and is a lot more fluid than even six months ago.”

The collateral for the loan was the 26-story, 458,229-square-foot ‘Main Building’ built in 1983, the 28,111-square-foot SunTrust Center built in 1967 and a 370-space covered parking garage. Occupancy is close to 80%.