By Michael Stoler 3/27 1:00pm

Mortgage Observer

indepth

Many Lenders Offering Low Rates for Multifamily

It seems like the perfect storm: investors are paying record prices to acquire residential rental apartments in metropolitan areas. And at the same time, financial institutions—especially regional and local commercial and savings banks—are offering the lowest rates for long-term financing for this asset class. Ramping up the competition, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, insurance companies, CMBS and conduits are all offering borrowers low rates, with terms we have not experienced in decades. Read More

By Damian Ghigliotty 3/26 12:00pm

Mortgage Observer

NJ Multifamily Harvest

New Jersey Lenders Locked in Competition for Multifamily Assignments

The Garden State has become fertile ground for developers, and commercial real estate lenders both large and small are looking to get in on the action, while others are looking to retain and expand the market share they already have.

Competition among lenders is quickly growing as more people look to rent in New Jersey, the most urbanized state in the country, 94.7 percent of whose population is centered in urban areas, according to 2010 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. That abundance of multifamily properties just west of the Hudson River coincides with university expansions, new retail and office properties and other large real estate projects throughout the state.

Brian Whitmer, a senior director in investment sales for the New York tristate area at Cushman & Wakefield, works out of northern New Jersey and went through the pipeline of multifamily developments he sees in the works there. Of the 22,968 units he found in the pipeline in northern New Jersey, 59 percent, or 13,538 units, are in the Gold Coast—areas along the Hudson River like Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 9/19/12 4:39pm

Mortgage Beat

300 Somerset Street.

Meridian Arranges $50 Million in Financing for Harrison Luxury Multifamily Complex

Meridian Capital Group, LLC has closed on a permanent financing for $50 million for the recently constructed luxury multifamily building Harrison Station, at 300 Somerset Street in Harrison, N.J.

Beech Street Capital provided a 10-year Freddie Mac loan with a a rate of 3.69 percent to the developer Harrison Building 1 Urban Renewal LLC, a joint venture between Ironstate Holdings and The Pegasus Group, as GlobeSt.com first reported. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 9/12/12 7:30am

Mortgage Beat

153 Washington Avenue

ARC New York Recovery REIT Inc. Expands in Brooklyn

American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT Inc., a non-traded real estate investment program and part of American Realty Capital, is expanding its presence in Brooklyn commercial and residential real estate. The company has announced the acquisition of 50 rental units and a 36-space parking facility at The 163 Washington Condominiums in Clinton Hill, not long after having closed the financing of three retail and office buildings in Sheepshead Bay.

The $31.5 million purchase of the condominium at 163 Washington Avenue increases the total size of the company’s portfolio to $213.1 million, comprised of 12 properties. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 9/11/12 1:34pm

Mortgage Beat

1875-1925 Nostrand Avenue.

Meridian Arranges $13 Million Loan for Flatbush Retail

Meridian Capital Group has arranged a $13 million loan for a 35,000-square-foot strip of retail buildings at 1875-1925 Nostrand Avenue in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The loan, financed by a local community bank, permitted an entity controlled by real estate investors Isaac and Billy Shalom to close the purchase of the property, The Mortgage Observer has learned. Read More

By Carl Gaines 7/12/12 7:15am

Mortgage Beat

2 Park Drive.

Investors Bank: $41 Million in Loans Took Root in Spring Months

Investors Bank has provided financing for several New York area transactions as of late, many of them for refinancing, as low rates continue to drive that trend. Over the months of April and May, the bank racked up a total of $40.6 million in mortgages originated for properties located in the New York tristate area.

The deals included a mix of property types—multifamily, industrial and office. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 6/11/12 11:50am

The Lobby

Terry Baydala (Photo courtesy of Linkedin.com)

Meridian Capital Group Hires Two

Real estate advisory business Meridian Capital Group has hired Terry Baydala and Peter Steier in an effort to grow its presence in equity capital markets and structured finance.

Mr. Baydala previously served as the senior vice president of commercial real estate banking at Anglo Irish Bank, where he handled the structuring and syndication of large commercial real estate loans.

“The larger the deal, the more structure typically is required for these transactions,” Mr. Baydala told Globest.com. which broke the news about the hirings.  Mr. Baydala’s hiring was previously reported in The Mortgage Observer. Read More

By Carl Gaines 6/07/12 2:49pm

Mortgage Beat

Judah Hammer.

Multifamily Deals Fuel $43 Million in Financing for Meridian’s Hammer

Meridian Capital Group has completed a flurry of activity in the New York tri-state region, negotiating financing for a variety of multifamily, mixed-use and co-op properties.

A total of $43 million in permanent financing was negotiated recently by Meridian vice president Judah Hammer for properties located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Croton-on-Hudson and Tuckahoe, N.Y. and Norwalk Conn. A Meridian spokesperson told The Mortgage Observer that the deals were all closed the first two weeks of May. Read More

By Carl Gaines 4/10/12 4:30pm

Mortgage Beat

Wells-Fargo-Logo

At Over $60 Billion in Originations, Wells Fargo Again On Top

The Mortgage Bankers Association last week released its annual ranking of loan originations. The data is broken into several metrics—such as originations for third parties and originations by investor group. However, for several categories, including total originations, Wells Fargo once again came out on top.

The bank’s commercial real estate originations for 2011 hit $60.2 billion, putting it way ahead of the other institutions in the top five. HFF came in at two on the list, with $20.6 billion, followed by Meridian Capital Group, CBRE Capital Markets and PNC Real Estate with $17.3 billion, $16.5 billion and $15.8 billion, respectively.

Alan Wiener, group head at Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital, told The Commercial Observer that the bank’s volume of originations in the New York City area for 2012 will continue apace. Read More