According to a release, which did not specify the purpose of the financing, the 10-year fixed rate loan has an interest rate of 5.34% and features two years of interest only payments. "The timing of the rate lock was precise," says Abe Hirsch, VP at Meridian, in a release. He adds that the borrower, Stonehenge Management, "was able to take full advantage of an extreme single-day drop in treasury yields to achieve such an attractive fixed rate." Hirsch and Meridian president Ralph Herzka were unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.
The loan was placed with Freddie Mac via the New York office of Walker & Dunlop. Herzka and Hirsch of Meridian worked in cooperation with Walker & Dunlop SVP Drew Anderman and the Freddie Mac team at Walker & Dunlop to assure that Stonehenge received the best execution for a loan of this size, despite current market volatilities, the release states. Calls to Walker & Dunlop were not returned by deadline.
The release states that due to Stonehenge's track record of owning and managing 18 New York City multifamily projects in addition to the Ritz Plaza, Freddie Mac "is confident that Stonehenge has the experience and knowledge to continue to operate successfully while navigating through the current economic cycle." A Freddie Mac spokesman did not respond to GlobeSt.com's inquiries by deadline.
For Freddie Mac, a loan of this size on a single property is unusual, although in February 2008 the GSE did provide $135 million to Johnson Capital to rehabilitate the 914-unit Windsor Gardens Apartments in Norwood, MA. And in June of last year, Freddie bought a $140-million pool of mortgages from Capmark Finance Inc. Coupled with a majority investment from sponsor Prudential Real Estate Investors, the $140 million enabled the Shelter Group to refinance seven Brightview senior housing properties in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia.
Thus far in 2009, commercial property financings of more than $100 million on a single asset have also been unusual. Within New York City, there have been the $1.5-billion financing of Astoria Energy II, a 550-megawatt power plant in Queens, and the $1.3-billion refinancing of the Durst Organization's Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park. Both involved a consortium of financial institutions. Also in recent weeks, the Washington, DC City Council passed a $206-million package of public financing for a stalled hotel project across the street from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Originally conceived as an apartment hotel, the Ritz Plaza opened in 1990. It includes 479 luxury rental apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail and office space. Located just east of Eighth Avenue near Times Square, it was recently renovated.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
