Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 21, 2015
Catherine Murphy of Chase, in a flurry of recent deals, arranged about $28.5 million in loans for the acquisition and refinance of apartment deals. Most of the 17 transactions were in Denver. All but one of the loans carried interest rates below 4 percent. All of the loans were amortized over 30 years. The single largest loan was for about $4.65 million for the purchase of the Alta Vera Apartments at 1284 Downing St. in Denver. As earlier reported by the Colorado Real Estate Journal, Alta Vera, initially developed as for-sale condominiums, was purchased by the Chicago-based Laramar Group. The sale of the 20-unit building equated to $357,500 per unit, a record price by that metric. The local seller was represented by Marc Lippitt and Scott Shwayder, principals of the Unique Apartment Group. The seven-year, nonrecourse loan arranged for Laramar by Murphy has an interest rate of 3.92 percent. Josh Mullins, director of acquisitions for Laramar, was extremely pleased with the loan and the service provided by Murphy. “Chase, for a stabilized property in central Denver, is hard to beat,” said Mullins, who is based in the Denver Tech Center. He said this represents the eighth loan Chase has provided for Laramar. Not only is the loan below 4 percent, but also he said “without going into too much detail,” Chase provided more interest only on the loan than competitors. “Chase has a system set up for strong borrowers with great properties with low leverage in this area of Denver,” Mullins said. It was crucial that Chase provided nonrecourse financing. “We will not do a recourse loan in today’s market,” he said. Alta Vera was 100 percent leased when Laramar bought it. “I think we have one tenant who has since moved out,” Mullins said. While many apartment building owners like to say that their buildings are constructed to condo-quality, it is literally true with Alta Vera. “The for-sale market simply was not there when it was completed in 2010, but the apartment market is extremely strong,” Mullins said. “It is just a beautiful building.” Other loans closed by Murphy include: • A $3.94 million nonrecourse loan with Humboldt Residential LLC for the refinance of a 42-unit apartment complex at 1430 Humboldt St. in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.39 percent; • A $3 million recourse loan with William Penn Apartments LLC for the refinance of a 35-unit apartment complex at 1644 Pennsylvania St. in Denver. The seven-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.67 percent; • A $2.65 million recourse loan with Tremont Investment Group LLC for the refinance of a 37-unit apartment complex at 1201 Clarkson Street in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.41 percent; • A $1.8 million recourse loan with 15 Washington LLC for the refinance of a 17-unit apartment complex at 15 Washington St. in Denver. The five-year loan has a fixed-rate of 3.78 percent; • A $1.69 recourse loan with Ivy Flats LLC for the purchase of a 17-unit apartment complex at 1470 Ivy St. in Denver. The seven-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 4.08 percent; • A $1.7 million recourse loan with p9s LLC for the refinance of a 16-unit apartment complex at 999 Pearl St. in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.41 percent; • A $1.2 million loan with Washington Arms LLC for the refinance of a 31-unit apartment complex at 1721 Washington St. in Denver. The five-year, fixedrate loan has an interest rate of 3.59 percent; • A $1.17 million nonrecourse loan with O’Neil Apartments LLC for the purchase of a 15-unit apartment complex at 1372 Marion St. in Denver. The three-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.15 percent; • A $1.05 million nonrecourse loan with Walijo LLC for the refinance of a 12-unit apartment complex at 1355 Monroe St. in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.69 percent; • A $1.05 million nonrecourse loan with Lincoln Heights Apartments LLC for the refinance of a 33-unit apartment complex at 1000 Lincoln St. in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.59 percent; • A $1 million nonrecourse loan with Moby LLC for the refinance of a 12-unit apartment complex at 2011 Goss St. in Boulder. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.41 percent; • A $1 million nonrecourse loan with Moby LLC for the refinance of a 12-unit apartment complex at 1926 Canyon Blvd. in Boulder. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.41 percent; • A $925,000 recourse loan with Cottonwood Place LLC for the refinance of an 18-unit apartment complex at 8210-8230 W. 16th Place in Lakewood. The seven-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.98 percent; • A $900,000 recourse loan with Monarch Crest LLC for the refinance of a 17-unit apartment complex at 4953 and 4961 King St. in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has an interest rate of 3.69 percent; • A $900,000 nonrecourse loan with Capitol Hill Properties IV LLC for the refinance of a 10-unit apartment complex at 1460 High St. in Denver. The five-year, fixed-rate loan is 3.8 percent; and • A $770,000 recourse loan with Capital Hill Investments LLC for the purchase of a six-unit apartment complex at 1522 Fairfax St. in Denver. The five-year, fixedrate loan is at 3.93 percent. Other NewsThe Denver office of NorthMarq Capital arranged a $2.48 million loan to refinance the Main Street Apartments in Littleton. Main Street Apartments is part of a mixed-use development at 2310-2396 W. Main St. Two buildings with rental units on the second and third floors represented the collateral for the loan. The apartments are leased to qualified tenants, who earn 40 percent to 50 percent of area median incomes. Steve Bye, an executive vice president and managing director at NorthMarq, and Mark Lindgren, an investment analyst at NorthMarq, arranged the refinancing. The loan was made through NorthMarq’s correspondent relationship with a major life insurance company. “The property was built under the tax credit program in 2000 although the affordable rent restrictions remain in place for approximately 15 more years,” Bye said. “The collateral consists of a condominium regime, which is often a challenge for life company lenders,” Bye continued. “We were able to achieve a loan-to-value threshold of 78 percent, as the property has demonstrated an occupancy history of nearly 100 percent over the past 15 years,” he added. “In addition, the project is located in downtown Littleton with unique shops and restaurants and is one block from the FasTracks light-rail station.”