Lincoln Square Developer Gets $128M Forward Debt Commitment

BELLEVUE, WA-Kemper Development Co. and its partners in the 1.4-million-sf Lincoln Square development here have secured a $128-million forward commitment for permanent financing from the New York State Teachers Retirement System. The 10-year, fixed-rate loan will be used to pay off this November the $220-million construction loan funded in December by a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America and US Bank. In addition, Cigna Investments, Kemper Development’s long-time lender for the adjacent Bellevue Square mall, recently made a $33-million equity commitment in the eventual 1.4-million-sf project. LJ Melody & Co. arranged both transactions.LJ Melody managing director Michael Makar tells GlobeSt.com the NYSTRS loan will be secured only by the hotel (a 337-room Westin) and retail (300,000 sf and 33% leased as of January) components of the eventual 1.4-million-sf project. The construction loan is higher than the permanent loan amount because it includes the cost of constructing 148 luxury condominiums atop the hotel tower, he says. Proceeds from the sale of the units will be used in part to pay off that portion of the construction loan. The hotel, retail and residential portions of the project are scheduled to open their doors in November. Still in the planning stage for the site is a 500,000-sf office tower.The $33-million equity commitment by Cigna makes it a partner with Kemper Development in the overall project. Makar says the money will be used to help carry the cost of the footprint for the office building, which will sit atop the retail podium opposite the 42-story hotel and condominium tower. Makar says it is unclear whether the partnership will need more equity to close on a construction loan for the office building when it receives the necessary prelease commitments. “It will depend on the rents they are able to achieve,” he says.Located at the corner of Northeast 8th Street and Bellevue Way, Lincoln Square got under way in 2000 and was halted in mid-2002 because of the economic downturn. The developer at that time was a group of investors led by Lend Lease Real Estate Investments’ Value Enhancement Fund IV. When Kemper Development purchased the stalled development in August 2003, he acquired not only the land, about 1,700 below-grade parking spaces and a half-completed hotel, but also the steel for the office building, which had been pre-purchased. All of that is owned by the partnership to which Cigna now belongs, says Makar.As for when the 27-story office tower may move forward, Kemper Development is giving not any hints, but it could be sooner than anyone is expecting. The Bellevue office market is rapidly tightening up, and with the footprint for the Lincoln Square office tower already in the works, it will be able to be completed some 12 months ahead any other planned additions to the Downtown office market. That front-runner status should give it the first shot at any significant tenants interested in relocating to or within the Downtown Bellevue submarket. Kemper Freeman, the head of Kemper Development, was unavailable Tuesday for comment.