Charlottesville Firms Secure $29M in GSE Refinancing

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA-A joint venture between local companies River Asset Management and Klingel Enterprises, LLC, have secured $29 million in refinancing for its 280-multifamily property here. Walker & Dunlop’s Ted Hermes helped secure the financing for the building, called Avemore Apartments, under the Fannie Mae DUS loan program. 

“The companies are refinancing now to take advantage of the low interest rates,” Hermes tells GlobeSt.com. “This apartment building is one of the finer multifamily properties in Charlottesville. It is a class A apartment geared to working professionals.” Oftentimes, he explains, people outside of the Virginia town tend to think of all apartments as student housing, given the proximity to University of Virginia.

The refinance loan was structured with a 10-year term with 2-years interest only and a 30-year amortization. Avemore Apartments was 98% leased at closing.

All in all, a typical deal by the GSEs - and one that may be headed, eventually, for extinction. What to do about the GSEs has been a frequent topic of debate in Congress and in recent Administrations, including the Obama Administration. Once the budget trimming mandated under the debt ceiling increase is complete - a big ‘once’ - the GSEs are bound to be Washington’s next focus.

"The Obama Administration believes that the private sector--subject to strong oversight and consumer protection--should be the dominant provider of mortgage credit,“ wrote the Treasury Department’s Neal Wolin in a blog post, the day after The Washington Post suggested the GSEs would remain intact.