Inland Borrows $140M, Plans Retail Purchases

OAK BROOK, IL-Inland Real Estate Corp. has entered a $140 million, two-year, unsecured term loan agreement. The proceeds of borrowings under the loan were used to pay down the company’s line of credit balance and retire remaining 2008 secured mortgage debt,” says Mark Zalatoris, president and CEO. Zalatoris tells GlobeSt.com that the $140 million term loan and the $150 million line of credit the company closed in April position the locally based company to have funds available to be used to purchase retail space as good deals come along.

Zalatoris says though the company does not have its eye on any specific acquisitions at this time, he expects the current economy will present them with a number of good deals moving forward. “We’re seeing pricing improve, so as properties become more reasonably priced, we may buy additional properties for our own portfolio,” Zalatoris says. “This allows us more availability of credit to do that.”

The loan was entered into with a lending group including KeyBank, Bank of America, Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Charter One Bank. The term loan is scheduled to mature on Sept. 2, 2010. Borrowings under it will bear interest at a variable rate equal to 200 basis points more than the 30-day LIBOR rate in effect at the time of borrowing, the company said. Zalatoris says given the current restrictive nature of credit, purchases and sales are down, but he foresees this changing in the next couple of years. “Sellers that might otherwise go to market are not getting the interest from buyers because buyers are having problems getting financing,” Zalatoris says. “Sellers are not necessarily willing to cut their prices yet, but I’m not sure that’s going to hold true going forward.”

Zalatoris says the company expects that as debt on properties begins to mature, sellers will begin bringing things to market out of necessity. “Sellers haven’t had a motivation to sell so far, but we might see opportunities in pricing in the future as sellers will need to get out because they have no choice,” Zalatoris says. “We’re positioning ourselves for when the market does open up.”

Zalatoris says Inland deals primarily in open-air retail space. “There’s plenty of real estate of that type in these major metro areas,” Zalatoris says. “It’s just a matter of a seller bringing it to the market at the terms we believe are attractive and agreeable to our bottom line.”