Fifth Third, CB&T TruAmerica Lend $124M on Bay Area Apartments Build

SummerHill Apartment Communities (SHAC) has landed $123.5 million of construction financing to build a multifamily project in the San Francisco Bay Area, Commercial Observer has learned.

Fifth Third Bank and California Bank & Trust (CB&T) provided a $96.5 million senior construction loan for the developer’s planned apartment community in San Carlos, Calif. TruAmerica Multifamily also closed a $27 million preferred equity investment to support the six-story San Mateo County development, which is slated to commence construction soon.

The deal marked TruAmerica Multifamily’s first preferred equity financing since launching a structured finance platform last year.  The new business vertical was formed following the addition of Ash Baraghoush, head of TruAmerica’s structured finance group, after he spent nearly a decade at Pacific Urban Investors. 

“This really goes hand in hand with the firm’s transformation into being a residential investment management company and being able to speak throughout the entire capital stack as opposed to just being owner operators,” Baraghoush told Commercial Observer. “We have spent a good year-plus cultivating new relationships.” 

Located at 11 El Camino Real 24 miles south of Downtown San Francisco, the project will feature 251 apartments with 38 of the units designated as affordable housing. 

Baraghoush said San Carlos has plenty of tailwinds as a multifamily market given its close ties to the San Francisco Bay Area’s technology and life science industries. He noted that the San Carlos submarket has a 97 percent multifamily occupancy rate and the region has experienced double-digit rent growth.

“The Bay Area as a market has certainly outperformed and is perhaps one of the one of the better performing markets in the nation right now driven by return to office and driven by the AI boom,” Baraghoush said. “The need for affordable workforce housing continues to remain and that’s one of the attractive natures for this opportunity.”

Fifth Third Bank, CB&T and SHAC did not immediately return requests for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.