PARAMUS, NJ—Eastern Union Funding arranged a creative financing solution for an international client refinancing Sprout Brook Shopping Center, on the robust retail corridor along Route 17 in Paramus. The brokers originated and negotiated a five year non-recourse loan at 3.5 percent with 70 percent LTV through Flushing Savings Bank.

Sprout Brook is a 22,000 square-foot retail center anchored by a Vitamin Shoppe and Jenny Craig with ten total retail units. It is owned by international real estate investment firm Cofinance Group.

The refinance of this asset, one of several Cofinance products in New Jersey, was orchestrated by Eastern Union's co-founder and managing partner Abraham Bergman and Joseph Orzel, senior loan consultant.

“We had a lot of competition on the deal, and we a non-recourse loan from a savings bank at 70 percent loan-to-value,” Orzel tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. “It was an international client and we got the bank to approve the loan. The agencies will lend to an international client easier. We got the savings bank to agree to lend to this company, even though they're based in Europe.”

What seems to have sealed the deal for Flushing was the combination of the property and the reputation of the client, Orzel says.  “It's a gorgeous piece of real estate and it's a solid client,” he says.

“We were very happy with Joe and Abe, and their performance refinancing the project,” says James J. Maurer, president of the company. “Eastern Union Funding secured the best deal for us.” 

“By closing with a balance sheet lender we were able to provide our client with a non-recourse option outside of Wall Street,” says Bergman.  “At first, this had all the characteristics that would call for a Wall Street loan, but in the end we avoided defeasance and provided a very aggressive pre-payment penalty,” Orzel says.