The buildings are located in Inglewood, Buena Park, Garden Grove, Baldwin Park, Lawndale, Belleflower and Anaheim. Meridian managing director Alex J. Katz, who negotiated the loan with Meridian's Shana Klisanin, characterizes the properties as "solid, Class B apartment complexes with a working-class tenant base." He describes them as well maintained with stable tenancy rosters. The overall occupancy level is approximately 95%, and rents are in line with market rates for the individual submarkets.

According to Katz, the deal was unusually complex because the owners are a diverse collection of tenant-in-common buyers who have owned the properties for at least 10 years. "Given that underwriting criteria is getting tighter, many lenders have become exceedingly cautious about proceeding under the TIC structure," he explains. "You basically have as your beneficial borrower any number of people without significant real estate experience. Where you would normally have a single go-to person for any guarantees, it becomes trickier who takes the liability on their shoulders."

Most lenders faced with a similar scenario, he continues, would have required a change in ownership structure to a "more palatable and approvable" format. Even lenders who do lend on TIC structures, he adds, generally don't permit more than five TIC members, but in this case the number was far greater. "There were multiple properties in the portfolio that exceeded that number," he remarks.