A team from Pathman Schermer Tandy, LLP recently closed a $108 million refinancing transaction for its Miami-based client, Tzadik Acquisitions LLC. The transaction, which was financed by Société Générale, involved 14 apartment properties located in six Florida counties.
The firm originally represented Tzadik Acquisitions when it bought the majority of the apartment buildings in 2014 from a number of affiliated sales entities. At the time, JP Morgan Chase had provided commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) financing. The 14 properties include 2,383 units in Duval, Hillsborough, Lake, Orange, Polk and Sarasota counties.
“The new financing through Société Générale allowed the owner to take advantage of the increasingly competitive CMBS market, which provided an interest rate, payment terms and other loan features that the owner found very compelling,” said co-founding partner Harold Lewis, who oversaw the Pathman Schermer Tandy, LLP legal team. The Pathman Schermer Tandy, LLP team included partners Wayne Pathman, Harold Lewis, Peter Meltzer, associate Laura Lefebvre and paralegal staff.
“Closing a CMBS loan on the borrower side requires a specific skill set that we have developed over many years of practice,” Lewis said. “While the payment terms can be more attractive than typical institutional financing, there are multiple requirements and pitfalls arising from the securitization of the financing that need to be carefully negotiated. Plus, there is a high level of due diligence involved in these deals. “
“We have a knowledgeable, focused and efficient legal team that has handled a number of large CMBS transactions, so we are very comfortable with the closing process, including the tight timeline and intense pace,” Lewis said.
The firm has closed multiple CMBS transactions in the last 12 months including a $61 million loan on a landmark office building in Coral Gables.