Dealmaker: Cohen Financial Arranges $196M in Two Deals

Cohen Financial, Chicago, secured $178.5 million for a portfolio of 24 office, retail and industrial properties in 12 states.

Northstar Commercial Partners, Denver, and ALTO Real Estate Funds, New York, acquired the six-million-square-foot portfolio for $224 million in October. It includes 13 industrial warehouse and manufacturing facilities, eight office buildings and three retail properties.

Cohen Financial Managing Director Mark Strauss and Associate Robert Quarton arranged the loan from balance sheet lender Prime Finance Partners, New York.

Northstar CEO Brian Watson said his firm specializes in buying vacant or highly distressed commercial assets at 50 percent or less of their replacement cost and bringing them back to full productivity.

“Many of the properties are located in secondary markets with substantial vacancy” Strauss said. “The opportunity for the sponsor was to purchase in bulk, execute a lease-up strategy, convert a low basis into increased value through their leasing expertise and sell individual assets.” He and Quarton secured the three-year floating-rate loan at an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio by helping Prime Finance Partners understand the relative value of each underlying asset in relation to its market.

ALTO Co-founder CEO Yaniv Melamud said he anticipates selling 40 percent of the portfolio within a short time. “The remaining assets can be sold after we increase the occupancy rate,” he said.  

Cohen Financial also closed a $17 million loan to refinance East Viking Plaza, a 137,000-square-foot retail center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Sporting goods store Scheels serves as anchor and a Target store shadow-anchors Viking Plaza.

Dan Rosenberg, managing director in Cohen Financial’s Chicago office, secured the 10-year commercial mortgage-backed securities loan from Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital, New York. The borrower, a subsidiary of Midland Atlantic, develops retail centers in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions.

“East Viking Plaza is a long-term hold for the sponsor who used the permanent financing to pay off a construction loan,” Rosenberg said. “The financing was accretive to the borrower’s business plan for this shopping center.”