Dealmaker: Hunt Mortgage Group Provides $30M for Multifamily Assets

Hunt Mortgage Group, New York, provided Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans totaling $29.6 million for six Florida multifamily properties.

In Lakeland, Fla., Hunt provided a $14.4 million conventional Fannie Mae loan to refinance Park at Verona, a 236-unit garden-style community. The borrower has owned and operated the property since 2012 when it acquired Park at Verona as part of a portfolio transaction, said Hunt Mortgage Group Director Marc Suarez.  

“Park at Verona was underperforming when it was acquired by the current owner and was considered a value-add opportunity,” Suarez said. He noted the new owner has completed more than $2.5 million in capital improvements to the exteriors, common areas and interiors since acquisition.

“Fundamentals in the local area have markedly improved in the form of increased rental trends, lower vacancy rates and overall capitalization rate compression for the asset type,” Suarez said.

The 12-year loan with an 11.5-year yield maintenance period included seven years of interest-only payments.

Hunt also provided $15.2 million in Freddie Mac Small Balance loans for borrowers Kimberly Sorrentino and Lawrence Rolnick to acquire a five-property multifamily portfolio in Boca Raton, Fla.

The properties included:
–Whispering Palms Apartments, a two-story garden style property that received $5.8 million.
–Sabal Palm Apartments, a two-story building containing 18 units that received a $2.1 million loan.
–Caribbean Apartments. The borrowers received a $1.8 million loan to acquire this 15-unit property.
–Del Rio Apartments, a two-building apartment property with 33 units. Hunt Mortgage Group provided a $3.5 million loan on this property.
–Villa Rica Apartments, a 17-unit property that received a $2 million loan.

Hunt Mortgage Group Director Bill Papagno said Sorrentino and Rolnick have owned investment properties of various types since the early 1990s, including multifamily assets with up to 450 units. They received a non-recourse five-year plus 15-year fixed- to floating-rate loan with a 30-year amortization schedule.

The properties are all in Palm Beach County on Florida’s southeast coast.