A San Diego Developer Hedges Against Future Rate Increases by Securing Fixed Rate Loans for Pre-Construction Through Stabilization and Occupancy. The Lender Underwrites to Sponsorship Experience, Operative Vision, and Real Estate Fundamentals

San Diego, Calif. – Gantry, the largest independent commercial mortgage banking firm in the U.S., has secured a total of $17.1 million of construction-to-permanent financing for two multifamily infill development projects in San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood, both within walking distance of the beach. These mixed-use developments will each feature ground floor retail components, with the first project delivering 40 apartment units and the second set for 20 apartment units. Construction is expected to commence in early 2022.

Gantry’s Jeff Matlock, Director, with the firm’s San Francisco production office secured the financing on behalf of the borrower, a private San Diego developer with more than 40 years of history in the region. The two construction-to-permeant loans were placed with a regional bank at an overall 70% loan to cost (LTC). The loan rates during the two-year construction period are fixed and then convert to a five-year fixed permanent rate during stabilization, ensuring predictable project financing costs for a total of seven years.

“The lender locked rate 3 and 6 months before permits on construction-to-permanent loans.  It is a unique opportunity for qualifying developers in the current cycle because while we remain in a generationally low interest rate climate, they are locking in their financing costs across the entirety of the project’s first seven years of operation. Our client remembers the inflation of the 80s and focused on locking their interest rate now to hedge against higher future rates at completion undercutting their current investment vision when retiring construction debt. With the current increases in building material costs and signs of continued inflation emerging today, securing a fixed rate construction loan while also locking in the permanent financing component provided assurances that these projects will deliver and perform as envisioned.”