Dealmaker: Bellwether Enterprise Closes $121 Million in Retail, Industrial Loans

Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, Cleveland, closed $121 million in loans for a Las Vegas shopping center and an industrial portfolio with properties in California and Pennsylvania.

The deals included a $36 million permanent loan for Desert Marketplace in Las Vegas a 200,000-square-foot shopping center at the intersection of Warm Springs Road and Durango Drive. Anchored by Smith’s (Kroger), Walgreens, TJ Maxx, PetCo, and Big 5 Sporting Goods, Desert Marketplace also includes a Smith’s fuel center on the property.

Bellwether Enterprise Executive Vice President Shelley Magoffin and Vice President Max Sauerman arranged the loan for borrower Durango Warm Springs III. 3650 REIT supplied a $33 million loan through its commercial mortgage-backed securities platform and a third-party lender provided a $3 million mezzanine loan.

The total debt yield was just below 8 percent with a combined debt service coverage ratio just above 1.10x. The all-in/blended rate fell in the upper 5 percent range and the $33 million senior loan will remain interest-only for the first four years.

Magoffin and Sauerman also arranged an $85 million permanent loan for five warehouse buildings totaling 1.1 million square feet of rentable area. Three of the buildings are in Los Angeles County and one in the Inland Empire West area in California; one is in central Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley submarket. Each building is a concrete tilt-up warehouse building with minimal office build-out and clear heights ranging from 24 to 36 feet. Each building is leased to a single tenant.

A Bellwether correspondent life insurance company and Thrivent Financial, Minneapolis, supplied the financing.