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CALABASAS HILLS, CA-ARCS Commercial Mortgage has entered into a strategic alliance with Commercial Defeasance LLC that will enable ARCS to provide in-house defeasance expertise for its customers. David Levine, an SVP with ARCS in San Francisco, tells GlobeSt.com that the new arrangement is designed to smooth the way for the growing number of ARCS customers who want to prepay loans but face defeasance on those loans.

ARCS customers will have access to the services of Commercial Defeasance at a discounted fee, Levine notes. “We've been involved in a growing number of transactions that need defeasance, and we were looking for a way to provide our customers with some in-house expertise to make the defeasance process as smooth as possible for them,” Levine tells GlobeSt.com.

Commercial Defeasance, based in Charlotte, NC, is known for its slogan "Defease with Ease." According to Howard Levine, president and CEO of ARCS, "The conduit market boom which started in 1997 has created refinancing opportunities from those same borrowers who are now looking for lower rates and/or more dollars. Most of these new transactions will depend on the defeasance of their existing loan.”