Dealmaker: Eastern Mortgage Capital Funds $41M Loan for Florida Apartments

(Vantage St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Fla. Courtesy Eastern Mortgage Capital)

Eastern Mortgage Capital, Burlington, Mass., provided $40.5 million in permanent financing for Vantage St. Pete, a 211- unit mid-rise apartment community in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Located in downtown St. Petersburg’s burgeoning EDGE District, Vantage St. Pete includes ground-floor retail space.

As with all Eastern Mortgage Capital loans, the package is fully non-recourse to the borrower with no carve-outs, is assumable and includes a step-down prepayment (no yield maintenance or defeasance) that expires after 10 years.

“In this challenging credit environment, the longer amortization, coupled with lower minimum DSCR and interest rate provided by the loan helped to ensure the highest possible proceeds available, allowing the project to stabilize with long-term fixed-rate financing,” EMC President Peter Panagako said. “No other loan product considered by the borrowing team came close to these proceed levels. The declining pre-pay structure, which never includes defeasance or yield maintenance, also allows for future flexibility, was an added benefit to the borrowers.”

EMC obtained FHA mortgage insurance under the 223(f) program to deliver the 35-year fixed rate non-recourse financing. District Capital of Detroit placed the loan.