Dealmaker: Walker & Dunlop Closes $53M in Multifamily Loans

Walker & Dunlop, Bethesda, Md., closed three loans totaling $53 million for multifamily assets in Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio.

In Kathleen, Ga., W&D Senior Vice President Dustin Swartz arranged $19.8 million for borrower Miller Frishman Group, Denver, to acquire 300-unit class A apartment community Houston Lake. He placed the loan with Freddie Mac’s Capital Markets Execution program as a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage with three years interest-only and a 1.30x debt-service coverage ratio.

Located 20 miles south of Macon, Ga.–one of the fastest-growing areas in central Georgia–the Kathleen area experienced 15-plus percent population growth between 2000 and 2015. Swartz said he anticipates the population to continue to increase through 2020 as local economic drivers including military, medical, food processing, manufacturing and distribution are projected to expand.

W&D also arranged $24.2 million for Vintage Emory Road, a to-be-built Class A apartment community in Powell, Tenn. The project utilized HUD’s 221(d)(4) new construction financing, which includes both construction and permanent financing in one loan. A 40-year fixed-rate term follows a two-year construction period, eliminating any interest rate risk for the developer.

Walker & Dunlop Managing Directors Keith Melton and David Strange led the debt placement team. “Vintage Emory Road is located in a growing dynamic area that should result in a very successful project for TDK, the developers of the property,” Melton said.

Vintage Emory Road will consist of 220 garden-style apartments on 17 acres in the Knoxville, Tenn. suburb.

In Columbus, Ohio, Walker & Dunlop structured a $9 million Fannie Mae loan for Autumn Springs Apartments, a 242-unit Class B conventional multifamily property.

Walker & Dunlop Vice President Michael Liefer led the team that structured the financing as a Fannie Mae 10-year fixed-rate loan with one-year interest-only followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. The loan was exempt from Fannie Mae’s lending cap because property rents average less than 60 percent of area median income.

Borrower Capital SMART acquired Autumn Springs Apartments in 2013. Since then the property received $3 million in property renovations including nearly $2 million in interior upgrades. “Repositioning the property generated tremendous value and provided a great opportunity to recapitalize the bridge debt into a long-term, low-rate Fannie Mae loan,” Liefer said.