$53M Secures Seven-Story Park Place

[IMGCAP(1)]WASHINGTON, DC-A JV between Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund and Donatelli Development has secured $53 million in construction financing from Citi Community Capital for a residential-retail building in DC’s Petworth submarket. The seven-story building, called Park Place, will include 161 residential units–20% of which will be affordable–and 16,000-sf of retail. The project is scheduled for completion in July 2009.

[IMGCAP(2)]In addition, 187 underground parking spaces will be part of the project. Residential units in the seven-story building will average 860 sf, with one or two bedrooms. The housing can be delivered either as condominium units or as rental units, according to a prepared company statement.

A venture between Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and former L.A. Lakers basketball star Magic Johnson, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund invests in urban and affordable housing. The firm just closed on the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund III, a $1 billion fund that should deliver $4 billion in purchasing power. It is the JV’s third fund and tops the combined equity raised in the two predecessor funds, which was $900 million. “We are true believers in Washington, DC and in this vibrant Columbia Heights/Petworth neighborhood,” says Johnson, who is also Canyon-Johnson’s managing director and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises.

Torti Gallas and Partners is the architect and project design firm; the project’s general contractor is S.E. Foster, a subsidiary of the Paradigm Cos.