A joint venture between local developer Greg Smith and partners at Martin Smith Development Corp. and Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners developed Millennium Tower, which is located at the corner of Second Avenue and Columbia Street. The project consists of six floors of luxury residential condominiums built atop 14 floors of Class A office space and seven levels of underground parking.
Millennium Tower LLC completed the 200,000-sf commercial project in 2001 with construction financing from U.S. Bank and Zions Bank. The company's refinancing retired this construction loan.
"MetLife won the beauty contest to provide a $46 million, five-year, floating-rate loan facility secured solely by the commercial condominium unit of the project," says Joel Aslanian, a partner at Seattle-based Meriwether Capital LLC, which represented the borrower in the transaction. "Meriwether marketed the deal nationwide to CMBS-lenders and life companies, but the borrower ultimately selected MetLife because of its compelling economic terms, reputation for closing and long-standing relationship with Beacon Capital Partners."
The project was 95% leased at completion and, according to sources, it has one of the strongest rent rolls in Seattle, with major tenants like Goldman Sachs, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Amgen Corporation.
"The strength of the rent roll, the sponsorship and the asset quality helped us overcome lingering concerns about the softness in the leasing market and absence of recent Class A sales comparables," says Aslanian. "The Millennium Tower financing was a great opportunity to establish some new benchmarks for non-recourse financing in Seattle.".
The terms of the financing remain confidential.
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