Gantry, the largest independent commercial mortgage banking firm in the U.S., has secured a permanent loan of $12.7 million to refinance two properties for Highline Storage Partners. The newly refinanced USA Storage Centers facilities include locations at 330 South Tyndall Pkwy in Panama City, Fla., totaling 70,728 square feet across 770 units and 110 Industrial Blvd in Hoschton, GA, totaling 76,915 square feet of leasable space across 543 units.  Both facilities have successfully moved through strategic improvement programs and are nearing physical and economic stabilization.

Gantry’s Andy Bratt, Principal, Amit Tyagi, Principal, and Sean Kuang, Associate, with the firm’s Self Storage production team represented the borrower,. The five-year, cross-collateralized loan was provided by an insurance company and offers an attractive fixed rate, interest only, and flexible prepay schedule.

According to Gantry’s Andy Bratt, “Gantry’s experience underwriting self storage assets in various stages of lease up affords us the ability to work with our roster of lenders to optimize financing, particularly for assets nearing stabilization but not quite there. When Sponsorship has a demonstrated track record and an appropriately underwritten proforma, we are often able to secure a permanent loan commensurate with anticipated stabilized performance. In addition to excelling with stabilized assets, pre-stabilized storage has been an avenue in which Gantry has truly excelled. We’ve helped numerous clients avoid high-priced bridge debt and executed on permanent loans, setting the stage for long-term success for the assets.”

Gantry’s Amit Tyagi added, “Our self storage team has access to a wide range of reliable debt capital sources for financing self storage assets, including our life company correspondents (which most of our peers are unable to access) and a roster of proven bank, CMBS, debt fund, credit union, and other capital sources. Self storage has broadly evolved into a preferred asset class for all these lender types, but most importantly the insurance companies considering they are filling a gap in the capital markets left by the local and regional banks, many of which remain stressed and on the sidelines. In this case, we reviewed a range of lender options, ultimately landing on insurance company execution offering a fixed rate, interest only, and prepayment flexibility to help repatriate Sponsor’s capacity on their revolving credit facility.”