Deal is towards acquisition of a multifamily project
An Eastern Union official has arranged a bridge loan of $83.33 million in support of the acquisition of a multifamily property in Atlanta, officials said this week.
Michael Muller (pictured), a senior managing director with Eastern Union, arranged the deal toward the acquisition of The Halsten at Vinings Mountain, a 440-unit multifamily property, officials said. Eastern Union is one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate brokerages.
Formerly known as Stone Ridge at Vinings, the asset is located at 3000 Cumberland Club Drive in the city’s Central Vinings district. Completed in 1973, the property encompasses 452,385 square feet.
Muller secured the bridge loan for an unidentified borrower who had acquired The Halsten for an undisclosed amount, company officials said. The new owner plans for around $8.8 million in new capital expenditures, company officials added. Muller said the new owner plans to upgrade the property’s exteriors and also modernize and renovate the interiors.
“Market conditions in the Atlanta area are excellent for multifamily investment,” Muller said. “National employers in the area are expanding. At the same time, national, out-of-town employers are moving operations into the area. With all this job growth combined with a substantial, incoming workforce, many properties are full and carry waiting lists.”
He said that the sponsor had transacted with an institutional seller and had needed to close within 45 days. Eastern Union successfully completed the transaction within the requisite 45-day window.
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“We delivered a loan package that went above and beyond the terms one usually sees in transactions of this type,” Muller said, noting that Eastern Union had tapped financing from 153 different lenders over the course of 2021.
The non-recourse loan carries an interest rate of SOFR plus 350, and covers a two-year term, with three options for 12-month extensions. The transaction requires interest-only payments for a period of up to three years.
Muller previously closed on a $70.9 million move for a multifamily property in Atlanta, the company previously announced. Per a January announcement, Eastern Union also secured $54.7 million in financing for two single-family rental portfolios in Baltimore, as well as $12.77 million in financing for a mobile home site in Houston.
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In a January telephone interview with Mortgage Professional America, company president and CEO Abraham Bergman pointed to multifamily properties as a perennial favorite among investors. He spoke to MPA after reaching a milestone last year of 240 closed transactions in 240 American cities across 32 states in 2021.
“Multifamily always takes up a very large portion of the transactions that go on in the country,” Bergman told MPA. “There are a lot more people out there who are OK with renting an apartment. The new American Dream might be renting an apartment so you can move anytime you want. So, you’ve definitely seen a big demand for housing across the country.”
More surprising are the number of “exotic” investments – self-storage properties and mobile home parks, Bergman noted in the way of providing examples – that have emerged in a manner reflective of pandemic-fueled changes and the growing presence of itinerant residents. An example is a $58.1 million loan for a self-storage complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that was among the deals closed by managing director David Merkin.
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“We did see sort of an uptick in the unusual deal, not your absolutely typical deal happening,” Bergman said. “In the last year or two, we’ve seen an uptick in self-storage; we’ve seen an uptick in mobile home parks; we’ve seen an uptick in industrial, which is obviously a product of online shopping.”
Bergman added: “The country is getting smaller. People who are real estate professionals are no longer scared to go out of their local market where they live and where their office is. They’re willing to buy anywhere in the country. There’s data out there to research a market, jump on to a plane and go check out a market. You can do your research and understand pretty much any market. It doesn’t have to be your backyard anymore to buy the real estate. It’s interesting that you do see more transactions coming along the way – even substantially sized transactions – that fall under maybe some of the more specialty-type products. We have definitely seen an increase in value in those areas.”
Founded in 2001, Eastern Union is a national commercial mortgage brokerage firm employing more than 90 real estate professionals and closing an average of $4 billion in transactions annually.
