Harwood Entity Closes $5M Refi for 86,718-SF Office Holding

Drew Kiesling of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's Dallas office arranged the three-year, adjustable rate bridge loan. First American Bank provided the financing.

The five-story office building at 1700 Alma Dr. is 90% leased. Futurewei Technologies is the lead tenant for the 19-year-old office building positioned near the Telecom Corridor fringes and close to 60 restaurants, eight banks and six hotels. The structure was renovated in 1999.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler is coming off a record-breaking year, handling more than $12.2 billion in trading volume in 2001 for debt, equity, structured finance and investment sales. Structured financing, says the company, will play a larger role this year as debt underwriting becomes more conservative, says John Pelusi, executive managing director.He predicts lenders could lower the current 75% to 80% LTV ratio to 65% to 75% this year for certain office classes. "This means structured finance--mezzanine debt and equity--will be needed to plug the gap in the capital structure," he said in a recent press release. Still, the money is there to be had and remains competitively priced for the right deals.

Debt underwriting for all commercial asset classes will tighten even further this year, according to Pelusi. The historical lag factor of commercial real estate as the economy rebounds will become apparent in the next 12 months to 18 months, he adds.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler's 2001 record represented an 11% hike from the previous year. In the loan servicing arena, the Dallas-based lending conduit serviced 1,374 loans for 52 lenders in 610 states in 47 states for a total $10,7 billion. Office transactions totaled more than $4.6 billion, up 37% from 2000. Multifamily deals racked up in excess of $2.7 billion; retail, $2.2 billion; mixed use, $1.3 billion plus' industrial, about $829.9 million; hospitality. $370.6 million; and miscellaneous, more than $229.6 million.