Transaction Overview
George Smith Partners successfully placed a $4,680,000, 50% LTV loan to fund the acquisition of a 6.9-acre parcel of land located in North County, San Diego, California, and the funds needed to finalize the entitlements for 135 paper lot townhome subdivision.
When GSP became involved, the Borrower had already invested over $2,300,000 to secure a tentative map and development agreement while the land was under option. However, there were only ten days remaining on the purchase contract when the land lender with whom the Borrower had been dealing with directly, declined to proceed. When the Seller refused to grant the Buyer an extension on the purchase escrow, GSP was engaged to arrange the land acquisition financing to enable a timely closing.
GSP had several highly reliable alternative land lenders that could close within ten days. Strategically, GSP selected a lender that was not only willing to finance the land acquisition and final entitlements, but also was willing to give the Sponsor a strong indication that they would favorably consider funding the future stages of the project, including the grading, horizontal land, and infrastructure development as well as the vertical construction financing once the final map was achieved in approximately nine months.
