FORT LAUDERDALE, FL- Coral Gables- based American Real Estate Capital, a subsidiary of the Cincinnati-based American Financial Group Inc., has closed on a $57-million loan to refinance the Lauderdale Marine Center located on the New River here. The 51-acre facility, one of the largest marine dockage and repair facilities on Florida’s East coast, is made up of two yards, which were completely redeveloped in two stages, one in 1997 and the other in 2008. It can accommodate yachts of up to 170 feet long. Vessels need to be 40-feet long to be considered yachts.

The loan to the Lauderdale Marine Center, which originated with the Great American Life Insurance Company, also a subsidiary of the American Financial Group, was classified as a bridge loan. According to Michael Tabor, senior underwriter at American Real Estate Capital, these loans run from one to five-years and have a higher interest rate than a permanent loan, because they are not fully-stabilized. He declined to give the precise terms of the Lauderdale Marine Center loan.

It is difficult for marina operators to secure loans today, says Tabor. “A majority of lenders don’t have an appetite for (the marine) asset class, because it is considered riskier than other types of commercial real estate,” he says. Until recently, GE Capital had been one of the only other lenders who would lend to marinas, but it pulled out of the business, says Tabor. And even  American Real Estate Capital only lends to the most profitable marina operations, he says. Although  the Lauderdale Marine Center is holding up during the recession, marinas, in general, have seen a revenue decline as much as 20% compared to the boom years, says Tabor.

At Lauderdale Marine Centers, much of its income comes from renting to marine-related companies, such as electrical engineers, marine diesel mechanics and refitters, who renovate yachts, as well as yacht brokers, says Tabor. Lauderdale Marine is more of an industrial than a retail facility, he says, although it does have 186 slips.

American Real Capital has two “buckets,” says Tabor. The one bucket is for bridge loans, which can have some lease-up or other kind of risk, he says. These loans have fixed rates and sometimes are non-recourse, says Tabor.

 With permanent financing, loans are anywhere from five to ten years and, in some cases, they will have loan-to-values of up to 75%; otherwise the loan-to-values are around 70% maximum, says Tabor. “With a marina, to calculate loan-to-value, you have to use an income approach, because there isn’t a large enough volume of marinas trading these days,” to use comparable sales, he says. “We select specialized appraisers with lots of experience (with marine properties),” to determine their value, says Tabor. These loans are reserved for stabilized assets, loans are fixed-rate, non recourse and have interest rates, on average, in the 6% range, lower than the interest for bridge loans, but Tabor declined to say how much.