Industrial

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners arranged a $34,000,000 bridge loan for a newly constructed, “Class A,” Multi-Tenant Industrial Complex in Mesa, AZ. The purpose of the loan is to replace the maturing construction loan with a lower cost bridge financing and to provide an additional one-and-a-half-year runway to complete the Sponsors’ business plan. The 173,000 SF property is currently 66% leased.

The new bridge loan term of eighteen months provides the flexibility to either lease up and exit quickly with a six-month minimum interest requirement or play the field for an extended period.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners secured $14,000,000 in construction financing for an industrial project in a western state. The project is a 110,929 SF, 100% spec industrial development in an attractive industrial submarket.

GSP canvassed banks, credit unions, and debt funds to find a lender that was comfortable with the business plan, which included no preleasing before construction. GSP worked with the Lender and Borrower to structure a loan which provided 65% of the costs to construct, lease, and stabilize the building. As well as a term of 30 months to provide sufficient time to complete the lease-up after completion of construction. The loan was also structured to provide an upsized 10 year perm loan option upon stabilization.

During structuring negotiations, the Lender acquired a competitor and there were market rumors that they were suspending all lending to digest the acquisition. GSP diligenced the market and arranged supplemental calls with the Lender and the Borrower- resulting in the Borrower having well-placed confidence that the loan would not only close but also on the quoted terms.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners successfully closed a refinance of a single-tenant industrial building in Downtown Los Angeles with a life insurance company. Given the strong market and property type, GSP arranged very attractive financing that required no on-going reserves of any kind. This was important as the Sponsor did not want the lender to reserve for the lease roll which occurs the same year as the loan maturity. The lender also locked their interest rate at application signing which saved the Sponsor over 65 basis points as rates climbed significantly during processing and closing of the loan.

Transaction Description:
George Smith Partners successfully arranged $69,000,000 in financing for the ground-up construction of an over 1,000,000 SF industrial build-to-suit development in Virginia. The loan has a term of two years with one, 12-month extension option and is 62% of cost.

Located near the Port of Virginia, the project involves the construction of two industrial facilities, one in Suffolk, VA, and another in Portsmouth, VA. The Sponsor has undertaken this Class A build-to-suit development project in response to the pressing need for high-quality industrial space in a market with extremely limited supply and minimal vacancy.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners successfully secured $4,500,000 to refinance a mixed-use office and industrial property in Los Angeles, CA. Our Sponsor had contacted one of his relationship banks to refinance his headquarters building. With the current crisis in lending, they were not able to provide a satisfactory refinance. The Sponsor then engaged GSP to secure financing. In reviewing the Sponsor’s financials, GSP identified significant growth and was able to secure a much larger cash-out refinance of the sponsor’s facility.

Using our relationships and experience, GSP identified an international bank that was able to provide a more aggressive rate and larger proceeds than the other lenders in the market. In 35 days, GSP was able to close this cash-out refinance at a fixed rate of 5.61% for 5 years, with 12 months of interest-only payments.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners arranged $3,600,000 in bridge financing of a 30,000 SF office/industrial Property located in Downtown Los Angeles. When the Sponsor engaged GSP, the Sponsor was in the midst of repositioning the Asset from a multi-tenant investment property into a full owner-user use. Because the previous lender did not allow for the reposition, GSP quickly arranged a multi-phase refinance process.

The first phase was to take out the existing Lender by securing a $3,600,000 non-recourse bridge loan in just 7 days to avoid a technical default with the previous lender. This bridge loan was secured at 6.50% interest only on a two-year term, and a 1.00% origination fee. In today’s market, bridge loans of this nature usually start at 8.00% -10.00% interest rates with more expensive origination fees, but GSP was able to leverage its relationships to secure a more affordable option for their client. The loan has no prepayment penalty or exit fee.

The second phase of this financing that is set to close in 60-90 days will be a long-term SBA loan which will net the Borrower over $5,000,000 of cash-out at a below market rate with 3 years of interest only on a 10 year term. GSP was able to handle the Borrower’s financing needs smoothly and quickly, allowing the Borrower to focus on expanding their business and take over their asset as an owner-user.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners arranged $4,800,000 in financing for the acquisition of a six-building, fully occupied industrial park in Pflugerville, Texas. The Sponsor, a repeat client, was selling another property in which the existing financing had a prepayment penalty. GSP leveraged its strong relationship with the lender of the Property being sold to successfully negotiate a reduction of the prepayment penalty by providing this Lender the opportunity to finance the purchase of the industrial park. The Lender offered a permanent, recourse loan at 3.68% fixed for the first five years based on the original property’s existing loan from 2019. The new loan term is ten years with a 30-year amortization.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners arranged $27,300,000 in non-recourse construction financing for the development of a 173,193 SF, Class-A, light industrial project in Mesa, AZ. The Project will consist of smaller unit sizes in 10 total buildings ranging in size from 2,500 to 15,000 SF.

Challenges:

This Project was built entirely to spec. Tenants signing smaller leases typically do not pre-lease space before a project breaks ground. Due to supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures, raw materials and labor costs increased significantly. While there have been many large box industrial projects developed in the market, there has been limited development of small bay product and therefore limited comparable lease and sales transactions. Most of the Sponsor team are foreign nationals whose assets lie outside of the United States.

Solution:

GSP successfully obtained several financing options and selected a lender who had flexible execution, a strong understanding of the growing demand for small bay industrial space and was comfortable with rising construction prices. GSP arranged a co-guarantor to subsidize the non-recourse carve-out guarantees.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners successfully arranged the non-recourse, construction financing of a 144,000 SF flex-industrial property in Madera, California. The Property is a 74-unit flex industrial/warehouse that will serve the underserved small-scale user. The Sponsors are capitalizing on the very low vacancy rate in the Madera/Fresno industrial market. The Sponsors are very knowledgeable on the market but have not yet completed a ground-up construction project. Their lack of direct experience and the smaller market made it difficult for many lenders to provide the financing. George Smith Partners was able to educate the selected lender on the need for this product in the market and the industrial experience of the Sponsorship which allowed them to get comfortable with the transaction and provide very favorable financing.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners successfully secured $9,000,000 for the refinancing of two single-tenant assets in Southern California and Colorado. The Southern California industrial property had challenges due to the high dollar per square foot. The Colorado asset had challenges due to the tertiary location. In addition, the tenant for both properties had credit issues.
Despite the risks associated, GSP was able to successfully navigate these hurdles. This execution is fixed at 4.25% for 5 years and was sized to 75%.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners secured $3,500,000 in non-recourse debt to refinance a Southern California industrial business park. The Property is a 40,000 square foot, 100% occupied, industrial/flex building, majority occupied by automotive tenants. The financing takes out the existing debt, distributes capital for a significant roof repair, and redistributes equity to the Sponsor. The loan was underwritten to 60% LTV. The 10-year full term interest structure maximizes cash flow for the Sponsor. The fixed-rate loan priced at 1.80% over the 10-year SWAP.

Transaction Description:

George Smith Partners successfully arranged a take-out loan of $9,542,000 for a recently renovated, two-story, flex property just south of downtown Los Angeles. The total collateral consists of a 40,417 SF building and three separate surface parking lots totaling 86 spaces. The Sponsor, a repeat client, acquired the Property two years ago as part of a three-property portfolio that GSP arranged the financing for. Those proceeds were used to complete an adaptive reuse of this former industrial building into creative office and warehouse. The Sponsor moved its headquarters to this location and occupies over half of the space. The remaining units for lease attract tenants priced out of the more expensive downtown LA and Culver City areas.

There were significant challenges during the construction period, including a total loss fire on one of the properties within the acquired portfolio, the impact of COVID-19 on the Sponsor’s businesses and a maturing loan with the acquisition lender. GSP leveraged its strong relationships and financing expertise to work out extension and repayment solutions with the existing lender while identifying a new capital source to provide favorable terms for owner-user financing. The loan amount turned out to be well above the acquisition price and renovation costs.