Berkadia Secures $25M in Miami

Berkadia’s south Florida office secured $24.97 million for The Cornfeld Group to refinance Carib Villas, a 365-unit multifamily property in Miami.

Freddie Mac, McLean, Va., supplied the 10-year, full-term interest-only loan. Berkadia Senior Managing Director Mitch Sinberg and Associate Director Matt Robbins arranged the adjustable-rate loan.

The new financing structure returned equity to the sponsors for reinvestment elsewhere, Robbins said. “By utilizing Freddie Mac’s floating rate-loan program, our borrower will be able to maintain strong monthly cash flows due to the competitive rate and full-term interest only payments,” he said. “By re-levering the property, they will be able to free up cash to pursue other opportunistic investment opportunities that may arise.”

The 365-unit Carib Villas was built in 1972.

Berkadia also sold a two-apartment portfolio in California for a combined $13.87 million. Senior Managing Director Dean Zander, Managing Director Brent Sprenkle and Director Mark Ventre represented seller Cypress Equity Investments, Los Angeles, in separate transactions that closed in January.

NNC Apartment Ventures, Los Angeles, purchased 9212 Burke St. in Pico Rivera for $7.55 million and Strattford Capital, Orange County, Calif., acquired 16275 Woodruff Ave. in Bellflower for $6.32 million.

Both assets represented an attractive option for the value-add opportunistic buyers who both target non-rent controlled assets with inherent upside and the ability to increase rents by upgrading units during tenant turnover, Zander said.

“We have seen a steady cap rate compression in secondary Los Angeles markets like Pico Rivera and Bellflower as rents continue to rise and investors expand their geographic parameters to include these bedroom communities,” Ventre said.

Built in 1964, 9212 Burke is a 44-unit, two-story wood-frame and stucco garden-style building with a central courtyard; 16275 Woodruff was built in 1963 and has 34 units on a 38,000-square-foot parcel.