PHILADELPHIA–The Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. team of John Banas and Kris Wood arranged five loans totaling $52.4 million in Pennsylvania in the first month of 2014. Banas and Wood are both senior directors in the firm's Philadelphia office.

Banas said that a slew of loan transactions began coming to fruition in January, and that by the end of the quarter he expects the team will have closed $100 million in loans for all types of property.

One of Banas and Wood's biggest recent deals was the $27 million refinance of a seven-property retail portfolio in Philadelphia.

“The borrower chose to refinance his portfolio instead of sell at this point to take advantage of low interest rates and the equity in the portfolio,” says Banas. The task was more challenging because the portfolio tenants were mostly smaller in-line retail operations. Nevertheless, the team arranged a 10-year loan with a fixed of interest rate of 3.6% for the first five years and 30-year amortization. The reset rate will be 180 basis points over the five-year federal home loan bank rate.

Another major transaction orchestrated by the pair involved an $18.4 million acquisition loan for a major student housing operator buying a 143-unit portfolio at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg. The 12-year loan is fixed for seven years at 4% interest for a year, with a five-year reset. The loan amortizes over 30 years.

Banas said he and Wood have a diverse range of clients, in terms of both property type and size of transaction.

Other January deals by Banas and Wood included a $4.9 million retail banking center acquisition loan in Newtown Square and two multifamily acquisition financings in Philadelphia totaling $2.18 million