$23,500,000 Construction Loan Take-Out of the 30-Acre FBO and Airplane Hangars Adjacent to the Van Nuys Airport

Transaction Description:
George Smith Partners successfully secured a high leverage $21,700,000 non-recourse, Construction-to-Perm loan to develop a six-building, 966-unit, climate controlled, Class-A self-storage facility near Stevenson Ranch in the Santa Clarita Valley, California.

Challenges:
The Sponsor, while very experienced in other asset classes, engaged GSP to source the full capital stack (debt, equity and carve-outs guarantor) for his first self-storage project. New Building & Safety codes that took effect in 2020 resulted in increased costs and delays. In order to obtain certified pads by the end of 2019, the entitlements in-place had to be vetted and the horizontal work needed to start prior to securing construction financing. The impacts of Covid-19 resulted in multiple delays from subcontractors, County inspectors, and in pulling permits due to County offices being closed.

Solutions:
GSP was able to source an investor from its pool of strong relationships who provided the equity. GSP focused on the market necessity for storage units in the desirable and growing community of Santa Clarita Valley, and successfully negotiated an agreement with Public Storage to operate the facility. GSP identified a capital provider to not only extend the financing commitment multiple times, but also to execute a structured, non-recourse, low-rate loan with the same terms agreed upon prior to Covid-19.

George Smith Partners placed $4,500,000 in non-recourse construction financing for the adaptive reuse of a big box retail furniture store to convert to a 1,250-unit state of the art self-storage facility. The Property is located in Orlando, Florida, within a Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) and was capitalized with a QOZ equity partner. Deal requirements included a non-recourse bank execution and best possible rate given the low leverage ask resulting from the QOZ equity partner’s significant investment in the Project.

GSP identified a bank lender that understood self-storage construction and found the institutional sponsorship attractive. The Capital Provider was willing to offer a simple, non-recourse execution and a swap product that resulted in a 4.75% fixed rate for the duration of the loan. A four-year initial term was offered to accommodate for the longer lease-up velocity common among self-storage properties.