Madison Realty Capital has completed a $14.5 million refinancing with Hello Living that’s collateralized by a mixed-use rental property located at 1357 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.

Hello Living, an experienced developer and repeat Madison Realty borrower, constructed a seven-story, 37,133-square-foot, mixed use rental building at the site that includes 36 apartment units and 7,000 square feet of grade-level and cellar-level retail space that are 95 percent complete. The transaction, which was completed in a rapid seven-day timeframe, will repay the borrower's existing debt and provide additional liquidity.

"Our Brooklyn market expertise and familiarity with the borrower allowed us to evaluate and underwrite this deal within an extremely prompt timeframe," noted Josh Zegen, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of MRC. "Speed and execution remain two of our fundamental hallmarks as a lender and both are demonstrated here as this entire transaction was completed and delivered in a week's time. "

"Madison Realty Capital's innovative and flawless input, along with their reliable execution, are invaluable resources for an experienced developer like us," said Eli Karp, CEO for Hello Living.

The apartment units on the development will be located on floors two through seven accounting for 23,504 square feet. The unit mix will include  studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and  three-bedroom apartments. Residential units will include open unit layouts with floor-to-ceiling windows, high end finishes, stainless steel appliances, large private terrace, insulated, triple-paned doors and windows.

Amenities for the project include a fitness center, private yard, and resident courtyard. Madison Realty has invested in approximately $9 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors.

Just four of the top-10 metropolitan areas for commercial and multifamily construction reported increased investment in 2018, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The remaining six experienced decreases.

[caption id="attachment_5116" align="alignright" width="231"] Robert Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data[/caption]

The New York metropolitan area, at $28.7 billion in 2018, continued to be the leading market for commercial and multifamily construction starts, advancing 10% after its 13% drop in 2017. The New York share of the U.S. was 14% in 2018, up from 13% in 2017, although not as high as its peak 19% share reported in 2015.

The next three markets in the 2018 top-10 all showed gains relative to 2017 were Washington, D.C. ($9.5 billion), up 28%; Boston ($9.2 billion), up 72%; and Miami ($8.2 billion), up 19%. The remaining six markets in the top-ten with their declines relative to 2017 were Los Angeles ($7.0 billion), down 11%; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas ($6.9 billion), down 16%; Chicago ($6.7 billion), down 1%; San Francisco ($6.0 billion), down 18%; Atlanta ($5.7 billion), down 14%; and Seattle ($5.7 billion), down 14%.

Of the metropolitan areas ranked 11 through 20, seven reported gains while three reported declines. At the national level, the volume of commercial and multifamily construction starts in 2018 was $212.4 billion, up 4%--a moderate rebound after a 3% decrease in 2017.

For the metropolitan areas ranked 11 through 20, the seven the experienced greater activity in 2018 compared to 2017 were: Houston ($4.5 billion), up 9%; Austin, Texas ($4.0 billion), up 22%; San Diego ($3.1 billion), up 12%; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. ($3.0 billion), up 16%; Phoenix ($2.8 billion), up 5%; Kansas City, MO-KS ($2.8 billion), up 46%; and Sacramento  ($2.3 billion), up 44%.

The three metropolitan areas in this group with decreased dollar amounts of commercial and multifamily starts in 2018 were Philadelphia ($4.0 billion), down 6%; Denver ($2.8 billion), down 23%; and Orlando ($2.6 billion), down 19%.

The commercial and multifamily data includes office buildings, stores, hotels, warehouses, commercial garages, and multifamily housing. Not included in this ranking are institutional building projects (e.g., educational facilities, hospitals, convention centers, casinos, transportation terminals), manufacturing buildings, single-family housing, public works, and electric utilities and gas plants.

The 4% increase for commercial and multifamily construction starts at the U.S. level in 2018 reflected greater activity for multifamily housing, up 8% to $95.1 billion, and the commercial building categories as a group, up 1% to $117.3 billion. Multifamily housing in 2017 had fallen 8% after appearing to have reached a peak in 2016, before posting the 8% rebound in 2018. After surging 23% in 2016, commercial building starts have shown slight improvement, edging up 1% in both 2017 and 2018.

“The brisk expansion for the U.S. economy during 2018 enabled market fundamentals for commercial building and multifamily housing to strengthen, after having shown some erosion during the previous year,” said Robert A. Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. “This provided the backdrop for the healthy volume of commercial and multifamily construction starts that took place during 2018. A further boost came as a number of very large projects reached groundbreaking last year.”

Hunt Real Estate Capital has provided a Fannie Mae conventional loan in the amount of $30 million to refinance a multifamily property located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

River House Apartments is a 224-unit, Class-A multifamily property located at 1480 Nicholson Dr. in the East Baton Rouge Parish. The property is comprised of 168 one-bedroom units and 56 two-bedroom units, housed in two, four-story mid-rise structures.

The loan features a 10-year term amortized over 30-years with two-years of interest only payments.

"River House Apartments was built in 2017, began to be lease in August of that year, and was 95% occupied by October 2018," said Marc Suarez, director at Hunt. "Proceeds from the loan will be utilized to pay off the existing construction loan and mezzanine facility."

"The borrowers on this deal are seasoned commercial real estate and multifamily investors who have acquired over 3.5 million square feet located in 18 states nationwide, have developed over one million square feet of new projects, and have managed over six million square feet across 23 states," said Suarez.

David Eyzenberg and Anastasia Vladislavova of Eyzenberg and Co. brought the deal to Hunt.

Property amenities include a courtyard with a pool and grill, a fitness center, and gated access. In addition, each unit has hardwood floors, a washer and dryer, and stainless- steel appliances.

The Baton Rouge economy is experiencing a stable, gradual recovery and core area employment has historically been tied to the petrochemical industries. Increasing economic diversification and recovery of oil prices and production have contributed to recent economic improvements.