Oakland, Calif. – Gantry, the largest independent commercial mortgage banking firm in the U.S., has secured a new commercial mortgage for the church facilities of the East Bay Church of Religious Science (EBCRS), a faith-based non-profit serving the Oakland community. The property, which includes two structures and a parking lot, is located at 4130 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood.

The new loan will nearly halve the previous monthly payments made by the church for more than a decade on its Oakland facilities, immediately freeing up existing funds for critical services, including a dedicated scholarship program. The financing was identified and secured by Gantry and provided by Community Bank of the Bay (CBB), a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) specializing in providing financial services to underserved communities, non-profits, locally controlled private companies, and individuals within the Bay Area.

Gantry’s Tom Dao, Principal with Gantry’s San Francisco office, worked to identify the appropriate funding source for EBCRS after being contacted by the church board earlier this year. After reviewing several options, CBB became the logical partner for providing the loan due to its local operating focus and community-service ethos. Gantry and CBB worked diligently with EBCRS to document its finances and accounting to underwrite the mortgage to market rate terms.

Dao, an active member of Asian Commercial Professionals (ACP), viewed the request as an opportunity to further the goals of ACP in forging strong bonds within the Bay Area between organizations focused on community improvement. Stepping outside his normal commercial mortgage client profile, Dao agreed to work with the non-profit organization to find a qualifying lender able to provide the church with a market rate loan.

Following the successfully completed refinancing with CBB, Dao and the principals of Gantry made a substantial contribution to EBCRS’s Reverend Eloise Oliver Scholarship Fund, as a seed contribution to augment newly available funds from the additional cash flow freed up by the new, lower mortgage obligation.

According to Gantry’s Dao, “Gantry is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities where we do business. This transaction allowed us to serve a worthy community organization by applying our financing expertise. After a rigorous review of options, we were able to identify the best loan and provider to refinance the church’s existing high interest loan into a new, market rate format taking advantage of today’s superlative rates and terms. The East Bay Church of Religious Science had acquired its real estate in 2002, paying an exorbitantly high interest rate at the time. After they contacted me, I was compelled to review the structure they had in place and immediately seek a solution to get the church out of its existing high-cost loan. For both Gantry and Community Bank of the Bay, the opportunity to assist the church in being good financial stewards of their resources is a long-term investment in the Oakland community and its worthy organizations.”

About East Bay Church of Religious Science

Our purpose is to serve as a spiritual development center by making available the knowledge and practice of the Science of Mind to all people by fostering their spiritual, cultural and general wellbeing, and to provide facilities for public worship, education and fellowship. Also serving as a beacon of light and support in our community and the world through our various ministries and programs which feed the hungry, house the unhoused, bring hope and education to prisoners, provide scholarship opportunities, and bring awareness and change regarding social justice issues.