AURORA, CO—Aries Capital's Chicago office has closed a $6.7 million first mortgage with very favorable terms for Cherry Creek Place III, a class-B office building. 

Located at 3151 South Vaughn Way in Aurora, the well-maintained six-story, 107,364 square foot building sits at the gateway of one of suburban Denver's most desirable office parks and houses a technical college, financial and marketing firms and two U.S. government agencies.  The CMBS loan arranged by Aries Capital features a 73% loan-to-value ratio and a 10-year term.  The borrower, an affiliate of Arthur Hill & Co. LLC of Evanston, IL, used the loan proceeds to refinance maturing bank debt on the property.

Although the building is 96% occupied, the suburban Denver office market suffers 21% vacancy rates, which presented the property with an underwriting challenge.

“The Borrower is a very experienced commercial real estate private equity firm, but it's difficult to find attractive terms in markets with high vacancy,” said SVP Jeff Bucaro, who arranged the loan. “However, with the borrower's demonstrated ability to keep the building well-maintained and leased in a challenging market, we were able to underwrite the deal at 10% vacancy and secure a non-recourse loan at 73% leverage,” he added.

“This is the second suburban office deal we completed with Aries Capital, and they worked hard to ensure the best terms for our loans.  We have been very impressed with their understanding of the lending market and creativity in building capital structures,” said Tom Zabor, VP of Arthur Hill & Co. LLC.

Aries Capital, (www.ariescapital.com) is a national full service commercial mortgage and real estate investment banking firm with offices in Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix.  Since 1991, Aries and its affiliates have arranged and/or directly funded over $4 billion in debt and equity for office, retail, multifamily, healthcare, hotel/lodging and special-purpose properties.