Back Bay at Carillion is located in the Gateway section of St. Petersburg, adjacent to the Howard Frankland Bridge, which connects St. Petersburg and the Peninsula to downtown Tampa and the Tampa International airport. The property sits within Carillon Park, a 432-acre multi-use park that is home to corporate tenants including Raymond James, Aegon/Western Reserve Life, Allstate, Franklin Templeton, PSCU, and Xerox.

Although the lender paints a rosy picture, several additional factors determine the prudence of the loan, say Jack McCabe, principal analyst at McCabe Research & Consulting. Those factors include how many units are actually waterfront, the price range of the closings in 2008, and how many owners are in foreclosure. Neither PCCP nor Bank of America was not immediately available for comment on those issues.

“My initial thought was the loan itself is for more than $177,000 per unit,” McCabe tells GlobeSt.com. “That is a high price currently for a bulk of multifamily units that are bank owned or REO.”

Just because PCCP notes the acquisition was well below replacement cost, McCabe says that that does not make it a good deal or a sound loan. McCabe says seeing the terms and payback of this loan, and if the financing will be an additional burden and further burden on rental profitability, is also an important question.

“It will be interesting to see if the new owners can do a positive cash flow from leasing until such time they can be sold for a good double-digit average annual ROI,” McCabe says. “It is good to see lenders returning to the multifamily arena, especially in distressed assets, but a key question is at what cost?”