Dealmaker: JLL Secures $304M for Mixed-Use, Office Assets

JLL Capital Markets, Chicago, secured $304.2 million for mixed-use and office assets in New York and suburban Washington, D.C.

In New York, JLL Vice Chairman Aaron Appel, Managing Director Jonathan Schwartz, Executive Vice President Aaron Niedermeyer and Vice President Eliott Zeitoune arranged a $207.7 million construction loan for 540 Fulton Street, a residential and office tower underway in downtown Brooklyn. Otera Capital Investments, Montreal, and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, New York, supplied the financing to Jenel Management Corp. New York.

When completed, the 42-story tower will include 180,000 residential square feet with 153 studios, 87 one-bedroom, 66 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom units. The 103,000-square-foot office portion will span floors two through eight to capture the growing demand for office space in Brooklyn. The building will also include 21,000 square feet of retail space along the front of Fulton Street.

In Silver Spring, Md., JLL Senior Vice President Paul Spellman secured a $96.5 million loan for the new owners of One Discovery Place, the former Discovery Communications headquarters. The soon-to-be vacant 478,000-square-foot office building in downtown Silver Spring’s central business district is walking distance to a public transportation Metrorail station and nearly one million square feet of restaurants, shops, theaters and entertainment venues.

Completed in 2004, the building has consistently achieved an EnergyStar rating over 95. The new owners, a joint venture between Cerberus Capital Management and Foulger-Pratt, plan to reposition the property for new tenancy.

The Class A building served as the former headquarters of Discovery Communications, which owns several popular cable TV channels including Animal Planet, TLC and the Discovery Channel. Discovery Communications sold the building in a transaction led by JLL.

Spellman said several lenders competed to finance the asset. “This was a great financing case study, as we rarely see vacant building opportunities of this asset quality in the D.C. Metro,” he said.