MIAMI-The Blackstone Apartments has refinanced its loan. The $10 million refi on the Miami Beach property was a seven-year fixed rate term with two years interest only on a 70% loan-to-value ratio. The interest rate was not disclosed.
Christopher Apone, vice president with CB Richard Ellis Debt & Equity Finance – Institutional Group in South Florida teamed with Charles J. Foschini and Christian R. Lee to arrange the financing through Freddie Mac on behalf of Blackstone Equities.
“This is a unique property,” Apone tells GlobeSt.com. “It was operated a hotel right up until the early 80s. At that time South Beach was run down and a lot of these old art deco buildings were not maintained. In the late 80s the Related Group purchased it and converted it into apartment buildings.”
Located at 800 Washington Ave., the apartment community is in a historic district in the heart of South Beach. The Blackstone Apartments were originally built in 1929 and were fully renovated in 1987. The community offers 130 units of which 99% were leased at the time of refinance.
“Most of the high-rise product on the beach, whether new or old, has been converted,” Apone says. “So you don’t have a lot of for-rent standard product on Miami Beach of this particular type. This is the tallest art deco apartment building on Washington Avenue.”
Apone expects to see more multifamily property owners refinance in the coming months. The sentiment from borrowers, he says, is that the interest rates are not going to get any better than they are right now—and eventually the rates will rise.
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