Bank OZK Lends $76M for Connecticut Office-to-Resi Conversion 

A joint venture between Saber-Hightower and Granoff Real Estate has sealed $75.5 million of construction financing for an office-to-residential conversion project in Connecticut’s Fairfield County, Commercial Observer has learned.

Bank OZK provided the loan on the sponsorship’s 286-unit M7 Lofts development in Norwalk, Conn., where two eight-story office buildings now sit within the Merritt 7 Corporate Park. The development team also secured $32 million of JV equity from an undisclosed family office.

Greystone Capital Advisors negotiated the transaction with a team consisting of Drew Fletcher, Paul Fried, Bryan Grover and Jesse Kopecky. 

“This was a compelling adaptive-reuse opportunity that required a financing strategy tailored to the sponsor’s long-term business plan,” Fletcher, president of Greystone Capital Advisors, said in a statement. 

Located at 101 and 201 Merritt 7, the two buildings slated for conversion are part of the six-building Merritt 7 Corporate Park complex 10 miles northeast of Downtown Stamford, Conn. and less than five-minute walk from the Merritt 7 Metro-North train station. The two buildings will be combined into one apartment complex with amenities that include a fitness center, coworking space and an outdoor pool deck.

“These are well-located buildings that can serve Fairfield County far better as housing than as office,” Marty Berger, managing principal of Saber-Hightower, said in a statement. “By leveraging the existing infrastructure at Merritt 7 and the property’s proximity to transit, we can create a differentiated residential experience while giving these buildings a new purpose.”

Bank OZK did not immediately return a request for comment.

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