HUD Marketing $2.3B in Loans

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has engaged SEBA Professional Services, a DC-based consulting firm, and DebtX, a full-service loan sale advisor, to market a $2.3 billion portfolio of non-performing residential loans. The loan sale, titled HUD SFLS 2014-2 Part 2, includes roughly 15,000 non-performing single-family mortgage loans with a total unpaid principal balance of $2.3 billion, according to a HousingWire report. According to DebtX, the loans will be sold in eight national pools, with the pools ranging in size from $94.5 million to $804.5 million. The loans are collateralized by properties across the U.S.

"Investor demand for HUD loans remains exceptionally strong, and we expect to see a high level of interest in this portfolio," said DebtX CEO Kingsley Greenland. "DebtX is pleased to support HUD in its efforts to systematically manage its exposure to non-performing residential loans."

"We are pleased to support HUD on its sixth, multi-billion dollar sale of single-family loans in the past 22 months," added Erhiuvie Abu, President and CEO, SEBA Professional Services, LLC.

These sales are "no longer a one-off transaction type for HUD, the agency is now selling billions and billions of dollars of these loans on a regular basis," Greenland told GlobeSt.com in an earlier interview.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

NorthStar REIT Closes $69M in Loans

NorthStar Real Estate Income Trust announced this month that it had originated five new real estate loans according to a National Real Estate Investor Online article. The loans, with a total value of $69 million, carry a weighted average 9.15% interest rate. NorthStar said that the proceeds from the loans were used to finance a variety of property types. The loan summary follows:

- January 18, 2012: $13.5 million first mortgage senior loan secured by a 693-unit multifamily property in Jacksonville, Florida

- January 6, 2012: $12.0 million first mortgage senior loan secured by a 69-room hotel located in Miami Beach, Florida

- December 29, 2011: $9.2 million first mortgage senior loan secured by a 111-room hotel located in Panama City, Florida

- December 16, 2011: $29.8 million in four cross-collateralized, cross-defaulted first mortgage loans secured by four hotel properties containing 500 rooms located in Virginia's greater Hampton Roads MSA

- December 9, 2011: $4.5 million mezzanine loan secured by a pledge of ownership interests in four assisted living facilities containing 390 beds located in El Paso, Texas

"These five loans are consistent with the investment objectives of NorthStar REIT," said Daniel Gilbert, President and Chief Investment Officer of NorthStar REIT. "We continue to demonstrate NorthStar REIT's ability to identify and capitalize on loans that aim to generate consistent current income while providing downside protection for investor capital."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Dallas Office/Retail Crescent Complex Gets $205M Loan

Crescent Real Estate Equities LLC, a real estate company owned by Barclays Capital and Goff Capital based in Fort Worth, has secured a new $205 million mortgage loan for its office and retail complex in Dallas known as The Crescent, marking one of the largest real estate loans in Dallas in years according to a Dallas Morning News report. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. provided the loan for The Crescent; Crescent Real Estate Equities also recently took out a loan from Northwest Mutual Life Insurance for $93 million for it's Trammell Crow Center in Dallas.

The Crescent, located on the edge of Dallas' Central Business District, totals 1,134,826 square feet of rentable space in 3 contiguous buildings with a 19-story center structure and two adjoining 18-story structures. Major tenants of the property include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, SmithBarney, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan. The complex, originally built in 1986, also includes the Crescent Court Hotel, and reportedly cost an estimated $400 million to develop.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Strategic Storage Trust Secures $29.1M CMBS Loan

Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corporation, a CMBS lender, provided a $29.13 million loan to Strategic Storage Trust for the refinancing of 11 of its properties in various locations throughout the United States according to National Real Estate Advisor. The ten year loan was set at a fixed interest rate of 5.77% and a 30-year amortization. CBRE Capital Markets arranged the financing.

"This financing was our first time utilizing a CMBS execution since the 2007 change in the market," said H. Michael Schwartz, CEO of Strategic Storage Trust, Inc. "Despite the more constrained documentation and extensive due diligence requirements of the new CMBS programs, the CBRE team did an excellent job helping us navigate our way through the process and closing the financing. The low 10 year fixed interest rate will be accretive for our FFO going forward as the money is invested in new acquisitions." The 11 facilities are located in Metro Chicago, Las Vegas, Alpharetta, Biloxi, Florence, Gulf Breeze, New Jersey, and West Mifflin for a total of 7,785 units and 944,500 square feet.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.