NEW ORLEANS-Acquired at the onset of the downturn in a vote ofconfidence for the city’s future, the 52-story Place St. Charlesoffice tower has gotten a $70-million mortgage financing,GlobeSt.com has exclusively learned. Meridian Capital Groupnegotiated the 20-year loan, which was provided by a nationalinsurance company.

“Our client acquired Place St. Charles with future generationsin mind and wanted to secure a long-term, fixed-rate loan to matchtheir long-term hold strategy for the asset,” Meridian managingdirector Tal Bar-Or, based in New York City, saysin a statement. He cites “the strength of the sponsorship” and the1.3-million-square-foot asset’s “best-in class nature,” along withthe favorable trends in New Orleans’ CBD, as factors in thelender’s willingness to provide the loan. “The subject financingfeatures a 20-year term and a favorable fixed-rate” of 5%,providing flexibility “to allow the asset to be improved and therelationship to grow,” he adds.

Meridian does not identify the borrower, but published reportsshow that 201 St. Charles Place LLC, a limited liability companyaffiliated with the Haberman Group of Dallas,bought the property in November 2008 for a reported $103 millionfrom an investment partnership led by Loeb Partners Realty LLC andJ.S. Karlton Co. When the deal was announced, Brook Haberman,principal of the LLC, told the New Orleans Times-Picayunethat his company became interested in investing in the CrescentCity after hearing a presentation by Scott Cowen, president ofTulane University, detailing the city’s progress after HurricaneKatrina. Place St. Charles was among the least damaged majorstructures in that 2005 catastrophe, which left much of New Orleansflooded.