GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: $12.5-Mil Office Loans Pass Muster

DALLAS-Perseverance and the ability to shift gears quickly pay off for Poynter-Scifres of Ft. Worth and its financing agent, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, closing two loans for a combined $12.5 million on office properties in Grapevine and Arlington. It wasn’t an easy feat and took considerably longer than usual due to the capital markets and post-Sept. 11 events, Drew Kiesling, director of Dallas-based Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, tells GlobeSt.com.

Kiesling has nothing but praise for lenders Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Mortgage Capital Inc. of New York City and GE Capital of Stamford, CT in holding firm to spreads to consummate permanent loans on office properties in a climate that’s been anything but calm. The 50,190-sf Offices @ Grapevine Parkway I, located at 2550 SW Grapevine Parkway, secured a loan for a little more than $5.4 million with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter while the 87,018-sf 1600 Lamar in Arlington mortared a $7.1-million loan through GE Capital.

The deals started in May and just closed. “We couldn’t have picked a worse time to embark on this process,” Kiesling says. “It’s a difficult environment to get anything done today, particularly office properties. It took about twice as long as it ideally would have.”