build-to-suit

Leading the team for this transaction were managing director Martin Kamm, VP Stephanie Lynch, and Associate Brandon Flickinger. "In this environment, it is very difficult to get construction loans done," Lynch says.

A positive, though for ACS was the location: to be located at 20 F St., this is one of the last developable plots in Capitol Hill. Also, Lynch notes that ACS is an exceptional borrower with a strong balance sheet.

Nonetheless, banks--and Northern Trust is no exception--have been judicious in their avoidance of undue risk or exposure to any one asset or deal since the credit crunch began. One result has been an increase in club deals--where banks band together to finance a large transaction. In this case, the financing was not a pure club-style deal in that Northern Trust was willing to commit to the financing even if its partners bowed out, Lynch explains. "Normally in a club transaction if one bank drops out the whole deal can fall apart." Northern Trust Co.'s partners in the deal were Fifth Third Bank, Charter and Chase, all of Chicago.