AmeriVest Completes Portfolio Refinancing

DENVER-Locally based AmeriVest Properties Inc. completed its portfolio refinancing by borrowing $39 million from RBS Greenwich Capital.The loan is secured by the Parkway Centre II building in Plano, TX, the Southwest Gas building in Phoenix and the Centerra building in Denver.

The loan carries an interest rate fixed at 5.13% through Oct. 1.

“With the closing of this second portfolio refinancing and our recent assumption of a $24,750,000 seven-year 5.25% loan on the Financial Plaza building in Phoenix earlier this month, we have now reduced our floating rate debt as a percentage of total mortgage debt from 47% at the end of 2002 to 18% today,” says William Atkins, chairman and CEO of AmeriVest, the nation’s only office REIT that caters only to small and medium-sized office tenants.

“We believe that the reduction in exposure to interest rate risk continues to be appropriate, given our long-term holding strategy for our assets and the currently favorable interest rate environment,” he adds.

In connection with this refinancing, the company will expense approximately $30,000 in unamortized loan fees related to the previous mortgage loan on Parkway Centre II.

AmeriVest owns 28 office properties.