Borrowers Close SoCal Loans of Nearly $7M

In the Claremont deal, an Orange County-based partnership secured the permanent financing for two single-story buildings in a multi-tenant industrial park on North Claremont Boulevard. According to Nick Madigan of the Alison Co., who arranged the loan, Farm Family Life funded the refinance of a maturing loan from a previous lender that was not in the market. The new interest rate is significantly lower than the previous loan and the loan amount included the costs and fees associated with the refinance.

In the Laguna Woods deal, an investment group based in Irvine secured refinancing for a maturing CMBS loan on a single-tenant retail building occupied by Rite Aide on El Toro Road in Laguna Hills. The financing is a 10-year, fixed-rate permanent loan at 60% loan to value that amortizes over 30 years. It was arranged by Alison's James A. Deal. Shaun Moothart of Alison notes that the firm "is seeing a variety of seasoned maturing CMBS deals of $10 million and under range and finding them a home with our life company correspondents." From a life company perspective, 10-year interest rates for retail, office and industrial are hovering in the range of 6% to 7%, he says, with some lenders quoting high 5%. Multifamily deals "are getting done with the GSE's (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) in the 5% range," Moothart adds.

In the Gardena deal, a Los Angeles based investor closed on the new loan for an apartment complex on West 164th Street that was built in 1973 and consists of one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 615 to 1,028 square feet. The Fannie Mae loan, which carries an interest rate of 5.91% and amortizes over 30 years, was arranged by Moothart. The new Fannie Mae loan paid off two maturing bank loans secured by the property, lowering the overall interest rate considerably while also covering all closing costs associated with the refinance, Moothart says.

Moothart notes that in addition to the Southern California loans, Mitch Ballou of the Alison Co. recently arranged $680,000 in life insurance company financing at an interest rate of 7.25% and a 25-year amortization for a 31,000-square-foot industrial building in Phoenix. Moothart says that the recently closed loans illustrate that smaller deals "are still getting done even in the current economic environment and at competitive interest rates for all product types." Alison will service all but the multifamily deal, adding to its $1 billion in-house servicing portfolio.