Retail Project, Storage Site Land $42M

INDIO, CA-Developer Northgate Crossing LLC has obtained a $26.5 million land development loan for its Northgate Crossing retail project here, and Carson Self Storage has lined up $15.5 million in joint venture equity in two recent transactions demonstrating that financing deals are still being closed despite the disarray in the capital markets. The two were separate, unreleated deals: The Northgate financing was arranged by Los Angeles-based Highland Realty Capital on behalf of Northgate Crossing LLC; the joint venture funding in Carson was arranged by NorthMarq Capital.

According to the web site for the Northgate project, the 80-acre site will include a total of more than 350,000 sf of retail space, restaurants and showroom space as well as 247 multifamily units, 118 single-family residences and a 100-room hotel. According to Brad Sevier of Highland Realty, the $26.5 million in financing for the project was funded by a regional bank that “was able to get comfortable with a business plan involving land pad presales and bond proceeds from a community facilities district paying down a substantial portion of the development loan once public work improvements are completed.”

Sevier notes that the borrower “is a strong sponsor with substantial commercial real estate experience and an excellent reputation with local municipalities.” One of the principals of Northgate Crossing is P. Thomas Mann, who has developed more than 17 million sf of office, retail, residential and industrial projects over the last 27 years in 15 states.

“The bank took the time to fully evaluate the business plan and understand all of the positive aspects of the development and sponsorship,” Sevier says. Northgate Crossing is entitled for commercial, hospitality and residential uses and located within an Enterprise Zone, allowing employers to obtain state tax credits. The project has significant frontage along Jefferson Street, the primary north-south arterial in Indio that leads to LA Quinta’s high-end resort communities, such as PGA West.

In the Carson transaction, the $15.5 million in joint venture equity went to a 1,009-unit, 103,203-sf self-storage facility that was “in desperate need of capital,” according to senior vice president and managing director Daniel McCarthy of NorthMarq’s Los Angeles regional office. McCarthy and David Blum, a vice president with NorthMarq in Los Angeles, arranged the financing.

McCarthy says that after years of poor financing terms the JV partner recapitalized the property and is providing expertise in self-storage to get the project leased up to stabilization. Without the JV equity arrangement, the property would have gone into foreclosure with no options available for the borrower, NorthMarq says.