CULVER CITY, CA—Developer VCN has purchased the Surfas Culinary District in Culver City, CA, with plans to develop a 100,000-square-foot mixed-use property on the site. The developer purchased the property for $16 million and has secured a $10.2 million loan through Buchanan Street Partners' high yield lending program to fund the development.

“Culver city is going through a massive renaissance that has attracted a significant amount of world-class creative office users, new restaurants and residential development,” Tim Ballard, president of Buchanan Street Partners, tells GlobeSt.com. “With that, many existing properties are being redeveloped to meet today's tenant demands. The subject property is in a premier location, that has a lot of development or redevelopment in the immediate area, that will be very attractive to office, retail and residential tenants.”

VCN plans to take advantage of the area's high-density and mixed-use zoning in the area. The property is located at the intersection of Washington Blvd. and National Blvd., at 8777 Washington Boulevard in Culver City, near the EXPO light rail line. While the developer secures entitlements for the planned property, the Surfas Culinary District, who sold the site to VCN, will occupy a 13,206-square-foot retail property on the site.

Buchanan Street funded an 18-month term loan with a 65% loan-to-value. For Buchanan Street Partners, this is a relatively low loan-to-value. “Given the quality of the location, it was a very attractive basis,” says Ballard. “We are looking to provide capital to borrowers who have unique assets that aren't readably financeable by banks, such as non-cash flowing assets, assets in transition, or assets that need a secure understanding of real estate to correctly identify the background and opportunity of the property. We finance “story” deals.”

Buchanan Street's high-yield lending program is specifically designed to provide funding for developments during the entitlement phase, which made VCN a great fit for the program. “VCN has a unique ability to pull this type development to foliation,” adds Ballard about why the developer is a great match. “This particular project was in need of a lender that had the ability to understand VCN's vision for the development in order to effectively underwrite the loan.”