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Douglas Wilson Secures $112M Loan for New Downtown Condo Project

SAN DIEGO-The developer seals the transaction with Fremont Investment & Loan and Corus Bank NA, which are co-lending the construction financing for the Mark, a $150-million, mixed-use project slated to rise in the East Village neighborhood of Downtown.

By Erin Cassin | Updated on September 27, 2004

SAN DIEGO-Work on Douglas Wilson Cos.’ proposed mixed-use project known as the Mark may soon be under way, as the development firm has landed a $112-million loan to finance the construction of its proposed, $150-million complex that is slated to rise in the East Village neighborhood of Downtown, on the block bounded by Market and Island streets, and Eighth and Ninth avenues.The $112-million construction loan has been co-financed by Fremont Investment & Loan, a subsidiary of Fremont General Corp., and Corus Bank NA, a subsidiary of Corus Bankshares Inc. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. furnished the mezzanine loan. Sarah Branigan, vice president and regional manager for Fremont Investment & Loan’s Irvine office, tells GlobeSt.com that it was about a year and a half ago that her firm began working with Douglas Wilson, who is president and CEO of the company that bears his name. “We were introduced to Doug 18 months ago and when we first underwrote the loan, it was an $80-million loan,” Branigan says, explaining that as the Douglas Wilson Cos. “went further down the path in getting close to their GMP contract, the cost went way up, which is what most developers are experiencing right now with the rise in steel costs.”

As Branigan points out, however, the market was rising in lockstep with the cost of the project. “When we initially underwrote this transaction, we were at sales prices of $425 per sf, and we ended up underwriting at $625 per sf, and their actual sales are now at $700 per sf,” she tells GlobeSt.com. Corus Bank became a part of the transaction about two to three months ago, according to Branigan, who says her firm “really wanted to have the cost fine-tuned and really close to the GMP before bringing anybody in.”

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