Symetra Life Insurance Company Lends $48M on NYC Multifamily Portfolio
By Cathy Cunningham November 16, 2020 10:16 am
reprints
Milbrook Properties has landed $47.5 million in financing for 19 multifamily properties based in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, Commercial Observer has learned.
Symetra Life Insurance Company, based in Bellevue, Wash., provided the non-cross-collateralized debt. Altman Warwick’s Robert Altman and Brian Warwick negotiated the refinance on behalf of the borrower.
The portfolio comprises 1,188 apartments and 51 commercial units. Eleven of the assets are based in Manhattan, six are in the Bronx and two are in Brooklyn. Milbrook has owned several of the buildings for more than 40 years.
Ten loans totaling $23.8 million were closed at a rate of 3.18 percent for 10-year terms, and the remaining nine — totaling $23.7 million — were closed at 3.30 percent for 13 years.
“Although we had strong interest from several New York-based lenders, the life company offered a unique combination of rate, term, pre- and post-closing flexibility, and a low closing cost structure that the local banks simply could not match” Altman said in prepared remarks. “Although, historically, loans of these sizes and asset types would have likely ended up with the local banks, we recognized the dislocations in the capital markets caused by the pandemic and decided to approach certain out-of-town lenders, which proved very fruitful.”
The challenge, Altman added, was “to overcome the high prepayment penalties on the existing loans. We identified a lender who was uniquely able to tightly control its legal and third-party closing costs, which, for small balance loans such as these, are very impactful to the economics of a refinance.”
