$85M Financing Deal Closes for 131-Unit Condo Project

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BETHESDA, MD-A financing package valued at approximately $85 million has closed for the construction of Lionsgate at Woodmont Corner, a 131-unit condominium property here. The entire development cost of the multifamily property will total $100 million.

Wachovia Bank NA provided the loan for project developer Duball LLC and the project investor a CIM Group affiliate. Located at the intersection of Woodmont Avenue and Georgetown Road, Lionsgate will be a 12-story structure with 14,000 sf of ground-level retail space, a fitness facility, and a three-level underground parking facility to accommodate 250 vehicles. Twenty-seven of the units in the 285,000-sf structure will be reserved as moderately priced residences.

“The loan will allow development of a marquee building in the heart of Bethesda and be consistent with the emergence of Bethesda as a special place to live, work, shop and dine,” says Marc A. Dubick, president, Duball LLC. Duball is also the development manager for Wildewood, a planned unit development in St. Mary’s County. Wildewood is a multi-year project that upon build-out will contain over 3,750 homes, retail and office space.

According to Delta Associate’s Mid-Atlantic Class A Apartment & Washington Area Condominium Market Year-End 2005, by year’s end, 41 condominium projects totaling 6,445 units were planned or under construction in Montgomery County and 3,349 had already been sold. “Condominium sales volume for 2006 will be just as strong as we have seen in 2004/2005, due to the regional housing shortage and prospects for a continued influx of new jobs to the metro area,” the report concludes. The doors of the Lionsgate are scheduled to open to residences in late 2007.