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Fed, Highlighting Asset Bubble Dangers, Red Flags Rising Commercial Real Estate Prices

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A report just released by the Federal Reserve warns that soaring commercial real estate prices across the country could harm financial markets, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The warning came from the Fed’s first-ever financial stability report, which cited “elevated asset prices, historically high debt owed by U.S. businesses and rising issuances of risky debt” as factors posing the biggest problems for the country’s financial system. The report also pointed to asset bubbles, and not inflation, as the impetus for the past two recessions.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell spoke about the subject  at The Economic Club of New York on November 28th.

 

Source: The Real Deal

Amazon Opens 100,000-Square-Foot Distribution Center In Sunrise

Amazon decided against putting its second headquarters in South Florida, but the online retailer opened another distribution center to ensure speedy deliveries in the tri-county area.

Amazon has opened a distribution center in 100,000 square feet at the Sawgrass International Corporate Park in Sunrise, according to Lou Sandors, the city’s economic development director. The space formerly was occupied by an online retailer called Fanatics.

Amazon spokeswoman Amanda Ip told the Sun-Sentinel that the company has 75 facilities nationwide like the new one in Sunrise.

Last year, the online retailer leased 50,000 square feet at 101 Northeast 23rd Street in the Wynwood area of Miami to support its Prime Now delivery operations.

In 2016, Amazon leased an 800,000-square-foot warehouse at Miami Opa-locka Executive Airport and a 117,235-square-foot space at the South Florida Logistics Center in Miami at 3200 Northwest 67th Avenue in Miami.

South Florida was one of 20 metropolitan areas on the short list to become the home of Amazon’s second headquarters, or HQ2, which will be established in New York City and Arlington, Virginia.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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South Florida Developers Dish On How They’re Financing And Building Through The Late Stages Of The Cycle

34309962 - silhouettes of construction and power lines at sunset

At The Real Deal‘s fifth annual Miami Real Estate Showcase & Forum, Editor-in-Chief Stuart Elliott moderated a panel on how South Florida developers are financing and building amid the late stages of a market cycle.

Panelists included Jules Trump (The Trump Group), Moishe Mana (Mana Group), Michael Stern (JDS Development), Louis Birdman (Birdman Real Estate Development) and Kieran Bowers (Swire Properties).

Click here  to read more coverage of the event.

Click here to view an event video.

 

Source: The Real Deal

Boca Raton Board Approves Modern Redevelopment For Defunct Shopping Area Despite Traffic Concerns

Boca Raton is trying to figure out what to do with what’s considered the last area of blight in downtown Boca Raton.

The modern redevelopment was approved by the Planning and Zoning Board, despite a strong pushback from the community worried about density.

The project is located at 171 West Camino Real. The plan would take the defunct shopping center and turn it into a mixed-use, shopping and residential area. It would include 350 apartments and two eight-story buildings.

The land’s owner says this is the only way to make the land viable as retail slides. Most of the public who attended a recently held meeting say this will add too much traffic to an area that’s already too busy.

“Clearly it’s the density of the project. When you add 350 residential units, the area can’t support it. The infrastructure isn’t there. We already have crowding on the roads, we already have crowding in our schools,” Tony Gautney, a Boca resident said in an interview.

There was some support for the project from the public.

“Being in the area, and raising a family, a few small kids, I feel like this project is exactly what the city of Boca needs, and our neighborhood needs. I think it could be the catalyst to revitalize our area which I feel like has been neglected for some time,” said Boca Raton resident Patrick Grogan.

The board will recommend the plan with one change: an additional left-hand turn lane instead of a right-hand turn lane into the project. That will hopefully mitigate some of the traffic concern.

This still needs approval from the Community Redevelopment Agency, who will likely take a look at this in January.

 

Source: WPTV5 News

Three Fully Leased Warehouses In Palm Beach County Command $25.8M

West Palm Beach-based McCraney Property Co. sold three fully leased warehouses in central Palm Beach County for $25.8 million.

Cabot Properties of Boston paid $148 per square foot for the trio of warehouses on Vista Parkway west of Florida’s Turnpike, which have a combined total of 173,812 square feet.

McCraney Property built two of the warehouses at 2211 and 2213 Vista Parkway on a 7.2-acre site in 2015, and the company built a third warehouse at 6935-6965 Vista Parkway on a 7.9-acre site in 2008.

“The warehouses are proven, well-managed assets with exceptionally strong tenancy and revenue histories,” Christopher Thomson of brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield said in a prepared statement.

Thomson was part of the Cushman & Wakefield team that brokered the $25.8 million transaction, which included Chris Metzger, Richard F. Etner Jr., Matthew G. McAllister, Mike Davis, Rick Brugge and Michael Lerner.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Year-End Tax CRE Planning And 2019 Outlook

Commercial real estate investors are among the beneficiaries of sweeping federal tax policy signed into law by President Trump last year.

The tax law generally makes investing in and owning commercial real estate — the largest alternative investment class — more attractive than ever. As we head into the fourth quarter of 2018, it’s a good time to recap the tax changes with implications for investors in income-producing real estate.

Investors would be wise to review these issues with their tax and investment advisors as part of year-end tax planning and investing strategy for 2019.

Individual Tax Rates

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”) includes tax rate cuts across the board, with corporate rates slashed to 21% beginning this year. The individual rate reductions are not as dramatic, but do provide relief especially with the wider tax brackets.

Click Here for Tax Bracket Comparison

Example 1

Married taxpayers filing jointly with $450,000 in taxable income would have a tax liability of $124,383 in 2017 versus $108,879 in 2018.

Example 2

A Single taxpayer with $150,000 in taxable income would have a tax liability of $34,982 in 2017 versus $30,289 in 2018.

Qualified Business Income Deduction

Arguably the most beneficial and complex provision in the TCJA, and the one that has the largest impact on commercial real estate investors is the Qualified Business Income (“QBI”) deduction under Section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code.

This provision is far-reaching and potentially affects every taxpayer who reports qualifying business income on Schedules C, E or F on their individual tax return, including from passive income sources.

Qualifying business income is generally any trade or business income that is not from a B“specified service” business, which is defined as a business relying on the skills or reputation of the owners or employees. (Architects and engineers are specifically excluded from this definition.) Many of the complexities of this provision fall outside the scope of this article, which focuses on the benefits of the tax policy changes for commercial real estate investors.

The QBI deduction is 20% of qualifying income, but a number of factors determine the actual deduction. The first limitation on the deduction is the greater of: (1) 50% of W-2 wages paid for by the qualified trade or business; or (2) the sum of 25% of W-2 wages paid plus 2.5% of the unadjusted depreciable basis of qualified property held at the end of the year.

Since most commercial real estate investments are held in special purpose entities that do not have employees, the benefit is from the alternative calculation based on depreciable basis. Keep in mind that income on the sale of property that is treated as capital gains is not considered qualifying income for the purpose of this deduction.

Before undertaking the analysis, it is worth noting that these limitations only apply to taxpayers with taxable income in excess of $315,000 for joint filers or $157,500 for single filers. For taxpayers below these thresholds, the deduction is the lesser of 20% of qualifying income or 20% of taxable income. This simplified benefit is phased out at taxable income of $415,000 for joint filers and $207,500 for single filers and subject to the rules discussed below.

It’s also worth noting that rental real estate often generates a tax loss in earlier years of the investment because of depreciation and interest expense. To the extent losses are generated they carry forward and offset qualifying income in subsequent years. This deduction is more likely to benefit those who have investments in more mature commercial properties that have been held for approximately 10 years or have very low amounts of debt.

Example 3

Married taxpayers from Example 1 have a 10% investment in an LLC that owns rental real estate. In 2018, their allocable share of rental real estate income is $50,000 (net of any depreciation taken through a Schedule K-1), $0 of W-2 wages and $500,000 of depreciable property. In this example, their QBI deduction is $10,000, which is the lesser of 20% of qualifying income ($50,000 x 20% = 10,000) or 2.5% of depreciable basis ($500,000 x 2.5% = 12,500) since there are no W-2 wages. If the married taxpayers’ liability was $108,879 before, it is now $105,379 with the QBI deduction.

Example 4

Same as Example 3 except the allocable share of depreciable property is $200,000. In this case, the QBI deduction for the year would be limited to $5,000 ($200,000 x 2.5%) instead of based on qualifying income. The 2018 tax liability is $107,129.

The analysis on the limitation above must be done for each separate qualifying business and then combined to determine the total potential QBI deduction. Dividends from REITs qualify for the 20% deduction to the extent they are not capital gain dividends. Losses from one qualifying business can reduce the overall benefit but excess income cannot increase the benefit.

Example 5

Same as Example 4 except that the couple also fully owns a commercial or multifamily rental property that generates a $40,000 loss with depreciable basis of $1.5MM. In this case, total QBI is $10,000 ($50,000 of rental income from the LLC less the $40,000 loss). Thus, the QBI deduction is limited to $2,000 ($10,000 x 20%). The 2018 tax liability is $108,179.

Example 6

Same as Example 4 except that the couple also fully owns a commercial or multifamily rental property that generates income of $40,000 with depreciable basis of $1.5MM. The QBI deduction from this rental property is $8,000, which is the lesser of qualifying income ($40,000 x 20% = $8,000) or 2.5% of depreciable basis ($1.5MM x 2.5% = $37,500). Combining this deduction with the $5,000 deduction from the LLC results in an overall QBI deduction of $13,000. The excess limitation on the depreciable basis of the wholly owned commercial property would not increase the limitation on the LLC QBI deduction unless it qualified to aggregate the activities. This decreases the 2018 tax liability to $104,329.

After combining qualifying business activities, the result is then subject to a final limitation. The deduction is the lesser of the combined QBI deduction and 20% of taxable income before this deduction, same as for taxpayers with taxable income below the limits discussed above.

Example 7

The married taxpayers from Example 1 have a combined potential QBI deduction of $100,000 and taxable income before the QBI deduction of $450,000. This results in a QBI deduction of $90,000, which is the lesser of $100,000 based on qualifying income and 20% of taxable income (the maximum QBI deduction). The ultimate taxable income would be $360,000 ($450,000 less $90,000 QBI deduction). This reduces the 2018 tax liability to $78,579 compared to $108,879 from Example 1.

Depreciation Deductions

The most significant changes to depreciation that impact commercial real estate revolve around bonus depreciation. Except for a brief hiatus from 2005-2007, bonus depreciation has been in place since 2001 in order to encourage investment in capital assets including real estate.

The concept of bonus depreciation allows for a percentage of the cost of a capital asset to be deducted in the year it is placed in service, with the remaining basis deducted over its standard depreciable life. This percentage has ranged from 30% to 100% over that time and had an original use requirement. The TCJA brought back a 100% bonus depreciation deduction through 2022, meaning the cost may be fully expensed in the year placed in service for qualifying property.

Another investor friendly change was the removal of the original use requirement for assets acquired and placed in service after September 27, 2017. As a result, both new acquisitions and new construction of commercial real estate can perform a cost segregation study and take advantage of accelerated depreciation on the personal property assets inherent in the building. (In the process of cost segregation, certain costs are broken out as personal property assets, which have shorter depreciable lives and, thus, accelerates the depreciation deduction.)

Another change that would positively impact commercial real estate is an expanded definition of qualified improvement property that is depreciable over 15 years, making it eligible for bonus depreciation. In the haste of writing the bill, tax-writers inadvertently did not update code Section 168 to reflect their intention. Most prognosticators expect this to be addressed before year-end, with Congress passing a technical correction.

Like-Kind Exchanges

For years there has been speculation that Congress intended to significantly restrict the ability of real estate investors to defer taxes on the sale of assets using like-kind exchanges under Section 1031 of the tax code. Fortunately, the new tax law largely leaves like-kind exchanges of real estate unaffected.

Exchanges of real property for real property are still allowed, with no requirement that assets be exchanged for the same asset type (i.e., an apartment complex can be exchanged for an office property).

The major change in the rules eliminates the ability of personal property to qualify for gain deferral. This may have an impact on commercial real estate investments that have utilized a cost segregation study to accelerate depreciation on a portion of a building. In these situations, the proceeds allocated to these assets will be considered boot that cannot be used to defer the gain, resulting in taxable income even if all of the proceeds are reinvested in a replacement property. (The ability for 100% bonus depreciation until 2022 reduces the tax impact if a cost segregation study is completed on the replacement property.)

Interest Expense Limitation

The TCJA introduces a new limitation that restricts the ability to deduct interest expense in certain situations, but commercial real estate is not impacted in most scenarios.

The deduction for interest expense is limited to 30% of taxable income before interest, depreciation and amortization deductions. This limitation only affects large taxpayers that have average gross receipts in excess of $25MM over the prior three years. This is a significant amount of rent when the industry norm is to use a special purpose entity to hold each commercial and multifamily rental property.

For these larger real estate taxpayers, there is an ability to opt out of this limitation. To do so, a taxpayer must use the alternative depreciation system for its assets, which generally will result in reduced depreciation expense. In most situations this should result in lower taxable income compared to being subject to the limitation. The rules for how this limitation may impact an individual investor in an LLC or other pass-through entity are complex.

Tax-Exempt Filers

Tax-exempt filers that have investments in commercial or multifamily rental real estate may be subject to income taxes if certain requirements are not met. The overall rules relative to when rental property income is subject to unrelated business income tax (“UBIT”) do not change under the new tax law, but there is a change in the reporting of these investments that may have a negative impact on investors.

Previously, tax-exempt investors aggregated their allocable shares of the revenues and expenses subject to UBIT from all activities to determine their tax liability. For tax years starting with 2018, losses from any activity are only allowed to offset income or gains from the same activity. This inability to net current year losses with income from other activities will likely accelerate tax liabilities for tax-exempt investors that have multiple investments generating unrelated business income, and may impact the decision to use an IRA to make additional investments in commercial or multifamily real estate.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Construction Of 220,000-Square-Foot Spec Warehouse Starts In Palm Beach County

Atlanta-based TPA Group broke ground for a 220,000-square-foot warehouse at an industrial park in Palm Beach County after landing an $11.5 million loan to finance construction.

Texas Capital Bank provided the construction loan to an affiliate of TPA Group, NHT Palm Beach LLC.

Jacksonville-based general contractor Conlan Co. recently notified Palm Beach County that it started building the warehouse.

The 18-acre site of the warehouse project is within the 1,000-acre Palm Beach Park of Commerce, located west of Palm Beach Gardens.

It is a speculative development, according to Christopher Thomson of brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield, the leasing agent for the warehouse.

Thomson told the South Florida Business Journal that TPA Group plans to rent the warehouse for $6.95 per square foot, and construction is expected to conclude by June 2019. Existing tenants at the Palm Beach Park of Commerce include CSX, McLane and Walgreens.

Kelly Slater Wave Co. plans to build a wave lake at the park called Surf Ranch.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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CRE Florida Partners Closes Sale Of Industrial Investment Property In Pompano Beach

Michael Rauch and Tom Robertson, Senior Managing Partners with CRE Florida Partners, represented the owners, T.G. Wright Jr. Properties LLC, in the sale of an industrial investment property located at 2150-2160 N. Andrews Ave. in Pompano Beach, Florida.

The ±16,438 square foot facility, which is situated on ±1.25 acres fronting Andrews Ave with easy access to Copans Rd.and I-95, sold for $1,515,000, or $92.16 per square foot on a 6.8% cap rate.

Built in 1984, the building features 24’ warehouse clear height, storefront hurricane grade windows, 1 dock loading door and 2 grade level loading doors.

CRE Florida Partners has represented the owners of this property since 2014.

Tom Robertson

Michael Rauch

“General industrial inventory is low in South Florida and this sale represented an opportunity for the buyer to enjoy a strong 6.8% cap rate and very competitive $92.16 price per square foot,” commented Rauch.

 

Industrial Investment Market Continues As Florida’s Leader

Industrial continues to be the hottest asset type for investment in the major Florida markets, according to the latest “Commercial Real Estate Investment Review for North America and Europe” from Avison Young.

“Multifamily maintains its popularity among investors. While office investment has slowed, we’re starting to see a lot more of the suburban assets trading very well. The retail investment market has seen some shifts due to perceptions of the sector influencing buyers to be more cautious, however, it is still a very active market,” Michael T. Fay, Principal and Managing Director of Avison Young’s Miami Operations, tells GlobeSt.com.

There continues a heathy investor appetite overall for Florida assets, while foreign capital from Latin America and Canadian investors who already have assets in South Florida are starting to expand to the north into other Florida markets, particularly Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville, he says.

The Florida section of the report had these one-sentence current investment overviews:

  • Miami: Industrial vacancy rates fall to record lows.
  • Fort Lauderdale: Investors seizing opportunity in suburban submarkets.
  • West Palm Beach: Multi-family investment triples due to positive in-migration.
  • Orlando: Multi-family transaction volume continues to exceed expectations.
  • Tampa: Strong economic fundamentals and steady demand fuel activity.

The overall national report cited a key trend of capital continuing to flow into global commercial real estate markets, inhibited only by the scarcity of available product for sale.

Another trend is that yields on commercial real estate are still attractive when compared with alternative investments. However, limited supply and cap-rate compression are leading some investors to seek opportunities outside their traditional parameters.

The report covers commercial real estate investment conditions in 59 markets in six countries on two continents.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

South Florida Makes New List of Tech Companies Driving CRE

South Florida made the list when Cushman & Wakefield released its Tech Cities 2.0 annual report that identifies existing and emerging tech centers increasingly driving the North American economy and details their impact on the commercial real estate sector.

A follow-up from last year’s inaugural Tech Cities 1.0 report, this year’s research reviewed all major North American markets, and groups the top cities into three categories based on how important the tech sector is to the local economy and real estate market. The categories are “tech is a critical component, tech is a key driver and tech is important.”

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach market falls into the third category meaning tech is an important, growing sector, but there are other important sectors as well.

“South Florida’s emerging tech scene has increasingly become more influential to the local commercial real market,” Chris Owen, Cushman & Wakefield’s Florida Director of Research, tells GlobeSt.com. “This is especially apparent in Miami-Dade, where technology companies accounted for more than 10% of all leasing activity since the beginning of 2017.”

Miami-Dade County Accounts for Largest Activity

In terms of tech-related leasing activity, Miami-Dade County led the way in South Florida. Between January 2017 and mid-year 2018, the tech and life sciences industry accounted for 10.8% of all leasing activity in Miami-Dade. That was followed by 5% in Broward and 4.4% in Palm Beach.

The region ranked 24th in the country for annual university spending on tech-related research and development.

The Kauffman Foundation’s 2017 Index of Startup Activity ranked the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area No. 1 in U.S. for new business creation.

“As tech companies continue to dominate headlines and grow, a key question is how this affects commercial real estate. Building upon our inaugural Tech Cities report from last year, Tech Cities 2.0 offers new data and a further in-depth analysis of the marketplace,” said Revathi Greenwood, Cushman & Wakefield’s Americas Head of Research.

“Tech is no longer limited to just traditional technology companies – media companies, retailers and even law firms are competing for the same spaces and talent as traditional tech companies. While the result can be seen in nationwide trends, we’ve identified key insights that impact companies across every industry,” Greenwood said.

Ken McCarthy, Cushman & Wakefield’s New York-based Principal Economist and Applied Research Lead for the U.S., said the new report demonstrates the profound impact the tech sector has had on commercial real estate in what appears to be one fell swoop but has been building since the financial crisis of 2008.

“Although we expect established markets like Silicon Valley to see continued investment, new tech hubs are emerging across North America, from Provo to Philadelphia, sustaining a period of tech-driven, economic growth unseen since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s,” McCarthy says.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

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Banks Get Company on the Commercial Real Estate Lending Front

Developer Graham Cos. wanted to have more time than the typical 10 years to repay a $120 million loan.

Property manager Cardinal Point Management LLC wanted to work with a flexible lender who can provide low interest for a $41 million loan.

And Vutec Corp. wanted a lender willing to issue $3.3 million after the electronics company filed for bankruptcy protection.

They all turned to alternative lenders rather than more heavily regulated banks.

“I think in this market, we are seeing a lot more of developers using alternative financing sources as opposed to going to the traditional banks because generally the alternative financing sources — private equity funds, for example — they don’t have to follow as many of the regulations as traditional banks do,” said Phillip Sosnow, a real estate partner at Bilzin Sumberg in Miami. “They have a little more flexibility in being able to lend.”

While national banks are the main player in South Florida commercial real estate lending, some alternative lenders are gaining ground. Life insurance companies set a record in 2017 when they issued $80 billion in commercial loans nationally, 4 percent more than in 2016, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report.

In South Florida, borrowers are opting for alternative lenders because of the flexibility they provide, experts said. From offering more competitive interest rates and long repayment schedules to higher loan-to-value ratios, alternative lenders are less restrictive and increasingly becoming the choice for commercial borrowers.

Just ask Stuart Wyllie, head of Miami Lakes-based Graham Cos., which has developed much of the northwest Miami-Dade County town from its pioneer past as a family-owned dairy into an affluent suburb. The company closed June 21 on refinancing for a 29-property commercial portfolio, picking New York-based global insurer American International Group Inc. as the lender.

“We went with the life insurance company primarily because of the deal we were looking for. This is a 15-year deal. Your normal banks and those kinds of lenders don’t tend to go that long. Some do, but generally speaking they don’t,” Wyllie said. “These life insurance companies have long liabilities, and they look to match these mortgages up with those liabilities.”

Vutec, a video projection screen maker, needed to refinance its industrial owner-occupied building at 11711 W. Sample Road in Coral Springs about two years ago. But the was a year after its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which likely reduced the pool of lenders willing to work with the company.

“A lot of banks won’t lend to companies that are either in bankruptcy or emerging from a bankruptcy,” said Brett Forman, president and CEO of commercial bridge lender Trez Forman Capital Group.

Trez Forman issued a nonrecourse loan with a 65 percent loan-to-value ratio. The 24-month financing allowed for a possible extension and had a 9 percent fixed interest rate.

“They had gone through a reorganization, and we gave them flexible terms so they can deploy more capital into their business,” Forman said. “We didn’t really look at the value of the business. We looked at the value of the real estate, and we made a loan based on the value of the real estate. Kind of a true asset-backed loan.”

Lending Overview

Despite the flexibility of alternative lenders, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured banks held 40 percent of the total $3.1 trillion outstanding debt, making them the largest single source for commercial and multifamily mortgage loans nationally in 2017, according to the Mortgage Bankers report.

But the report also showed banks had the lowest year-over-year increase at 6 percent in debt holdings in five years. At the same time, life insurance companies grew their portfolios by $40 billion, a 9 percent increase.

“The long-term nature of commercial and multifamily loans matches well with the long-term nature of many of the liabilities of these companies,” the  report said.

The Dodd-Frank Act implemented in 2010 added restrictions on banks, including their commercial real estate lending. The U.S. Senate in March and the House in May voted to relax some of the restrictions on lenders with less than $250 billion in assets.

“The search for alternatives might be a result of the stricter regulations imposed on banks following the 2008 financial crisis,” Sosnow said. “New regulations aside, banks became more cautious. The banks have learned their lesson, and they don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of failed projects. Traditional banks are being a lot more cautious in their lending. Regulations have changed. And so their requirements are definitely a little more stringent than what a private equity lender or some of these alternative sources may be required to do.”

“At the same time, an influx of alternative lenders means they are competing hard for borrowers,” said Brian Gaswirth, HFF director in Miami. “The debt markets in general are super-competitive right now just given the amount of liquidity in the marketplace, and there’s a lot of groups that are looking to put out money. In order for them to win deals, you are seeing more competitive spread. There’s a lot of supply, not as much demand. So when there is a good deal in the marketplace, you get a lot of great options. Some alternative lenders are willing to go as high as 85 percent on loan-to-value ratios and as long as 30 years on loan terms.”

The Projects

Still, brokers and borrowers said it comes down to matching a project to the right lender, bank or otherwise. Cardinal Point, a Tampa investor that paid $47.5 million in July for the 12-story Coastal Tower at 2400 E. Commercial Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale, considered both banks and alternative lenders when looking for a loan.

It picked New York Life Insurance Co. as the issuer of $41 million in financing, including $32.4 million was for acquisition and the rest for renovations of the office building, said Gaswirth, who was part of the HFF team that secured the loan. The decision to go with the third largest life insurance company in the U.S. was based on the type of financing it offered, although Gaswirth declined to disclose the terms.

“There’s also the nonmonetary benefit of being able to start a new relationship with one of the largest life insurance companies in the country,” Gaswirth said.

“The Graham Cos.’ pool of lenders includes banks and alternatives,” Wyllie said. “A lot of its $120 million loan will be used for new construction.”

This includes Graham Cos.’ nearly finished 40,000-square-foot, two-story office building southeast of Main Street and Ludlam Road in Miami Lakes’ Town Center; two nearly finished industrial buildings with a combined 76,000 square feet at Business Park West; and a planned 220-unit senior apartment community also at Business Park West.

“Every deal stands on its own,” Wyllie said. “When we decide to go on the market looking for capital, we will look at all the sources.”

 

Source: DBR

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CRE Florida Partners Grows Team

Michael Rauch and Thomas Robertson, co-founders of Rauch, Robertson & Co. and CRE Florida Partners, welcome Grant Rowars to its team of professional commercial real estate specialists.

Grant Rowars joins CRE Florida Partners as Vice President – Commercial Sales & Leasing, focusing on Industrial and Office properties in the Tri-County area.

As a real estate advisor, Grant works directly with the founding partners to bring over forty-five plus years of combined commercial real estate brokerage, development and management experience to his clients. His analytical background and degrees in finance and real estate bring unparalleled underwriting expertise and empowers his local market knowledge to help landlords and investors maximize their properties returns and execute strategically timed acquisitions and dispositions all while minimizing risk.

His focus at CRE Florida Partners is in the Industrial and Office sectors of the Tri-County area providing a wide range of services that include: investment sales, leasing, sale disposition, tenant and corporate representation, property underwriting, capital structure, financing, loan and asset due diligence, and IRC 1031 exchanges.

Grant is also serving as a 1st lieutenant and Executive Officer in the United State Army National Guard where he is responsible for the readiness and training of soldiers and the maintenance of +$50 Million in assets. The skill sets utilized in his military career are reflected in his dedication to the commercial real estate industry, which results in an unwavering commitment to loyalty, work ethic, and leadership.

Prior to joining CRE Florida Partners, Grant was a member of the Investment Sales and Capital Markets group of Colliers International where he worked on identifying, underwriting and brokering investment properties in the Tri-County area.