Dealmaker: George Smith Partners Secures $36M

George Smith Partners, Los Angeles, secured $35.6 million for office and retail assets in California and Missouri.

In Ventura, Calif., GSP arranged $19.5 million in senior acquisition debt financing for a four-building garden-style office campus on a 7.7-acre infill site. The property has 162,700 net rentable square feet within walking distance to retail hubs Mills Street and the Pacific View Regional Mall. The financing capitalized the property acquisition as well as a capital expenditure program aimed at increasing operational efficiencies and addressing deferred maintenance.

The property maintained 70 percent occupancy despite COVID-related challenges in the office sector. GSP noted some lenders expressed concern with the going-in debt yield and market leasing dynamics, but the firm identified a lender who understood the underlying value of the asset, the sponsor’s business plan and Ventura’s fast-growing market.

The interest-only financing was sized to 70 percent loan to cost, including 100 percent of future funding for capital expenditures, tenant improvements and leasing commissions. The three-year loan priced at the one-month LIBOR rate plus 500 basis points with a 5.15 percent floor.

The GSP team included Principal/Managing Director Malcolm Davies, Senior Vice Presidents Zachary Streit and Alexander Rossinsky, Vice Presidents Drew Sandler and Aiden Moran, Assistant Vice President Brandon Asherian and Analyst Ben Tracy.

GSP also arranged the $16.1 million cash-out refinance of a 153,725-square-foot grocery-anchored retail center in Dardenne Prairie, Mo., 30 miles west of St. Louis. A Schnucks supermarket and a Marcus Theater anchor the property, which is shadow-anchored by Target. The 62 percent loan-to-value financing will remain fixed at 3.95 percent for the first five years.

GSP Senior Vice President Gilda Rivera worked with Assistant Vice President Brian Hamada to close the deal.