Dealmaker: Hunt Mortgage Group Provides $51M for Multifamily Assets

Hunt Mortgage Group, New York, provided $51.3 million to refinance five multifamily communities.

In the Columbus area, the firm provided a $19.5 million conventional multifamily mortgage via the Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing loan program and a $1.42 million on-book mezzanine loan from Hunt. The subject properties include The Reserve at Walnut Creek in Gahanna, Ohio, and The Ravines at Rocky Ridge in Westerville, Ohio.

Built in 2014, the seven-building The Reserve at Walnut Creek includes 148 Class A units. The Ravines at Rocky Ridge also dates to 2014 and includes 136 apartments.

“The Reserve at Walnut Creek and The Ravines at Rocky Ridge are both located 10 miles north of Columbus, however they are separated from one another by roughly four miles,” said Hunt Mortgage Group Managing Director Gregory Cazel. He noted the borrower acquired both properties two years ago. “Our loans enabled him to pay off the higher priced acquisition loans that were in place,” he said.

The 10-year fixed-rate loans amortize over 30 years.

Cazel said the unusual loan package combined a conventional multifamily and mezzanine loan in the same structure. “This enabled the borrower to lock in long-term, fixed-rate financing and refund some of the equity he had put into the deals,” he said.

In Pittsburg, Calif., Hunt provided a $21 million Freddie Mac loan to refinance Portofino, a 148-unit garden-style apartment property built in 1986. The seven-year floating-rate loan included a 30-year amortization schedule.

“The borrower purchased the property in 2012 and invested more than $1.6 million in capital improvements since ownership, which significantly increased the value of the complex,” said Hunt Managing Director John Beam. He noted the borrower continues to renovate apartments upon normal unit turn-over.

Hunt also provided two Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans to refinance two Seattle multifamily properties. The loans to the same sponsor totaled $9.44 million.

Both transactions were 5/1 hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages, a 20-year ARM loan with the first five years fixed with one year of interest only payments. The borrower is was Harvest Investors LLC.
Hunt provided a $4.9 million loan to refinance Boston Crest Apartments, a 24-unit property with two three-story buildings at 215 and 219 Boston Street in Seattle. The borrower purchased Boston Crest in June 2015 and has invested nearly $1.7 million on renovations since then.

Formerly named Whitley Manor Apartments, 524 5th Ave. West Apartments is a 17-unit property in Seattle. Hunt Mortgage Group provided $4.5 million to refinance the asset.

Hunt Mortgage Group Vice President Jeffrey Ballaine said both properties are in the Queen Anne Hill neighborhood in northwest Seattle, currently considered one of the strongest residential neighborhoods in the city.

“Demand for apartments remains high in the Queen Anne neighborhood among young tech executives due to the close proximity of employment centers in South Lake Union and downtown Seattle,” Ballaine said.

Ballaine said DSC Capital, Seattle, brought the Boston Crest Apartments and 524 5th Ave. West Apartments deals to Hunt Mortgage Group.