GMH and the Army Get $79M in Financing

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NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA-A joint venture between the military housing division of GMH Communities Trust and the US Department of the Army has secured $79 million to finance the development of 347 military housing units at two Army installations. They are at Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle and the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, NJ.

The financing represents the full estimated cost of both projects, according to a GMH spokeswoman. She tells GlobeSt.com that $30 million of the total comes from Horsham-based Capmark Financial Group, the former GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. The remainder, she says, comes from the JV in the form of excess cash flow from the projects themselves. The total covers demolition and renovation of existing housing at both locations as well as new construction.

As previously reported, the Army awarded the contract for management and maintenance services at those installations to locally based GMH in May, and the agreement includes a 50-year ground lease for GMH’s ownership and management of the housing inventory at both locations. In addition to management fees, GMH will earn development and construction/renovation fees throughout the term of the project. It is working on the projects through its existing alliances with the Atlanta-based architectural and engineering firm of Niles Bolton and Associates and homebuilder Centrex Construction, also based in Atlanta.

In a statement, Bruce Robinson, president of GMH’s military housing division, says, “We continue to build momentum in [the] division.” GMH currently performs similar services for projects at 19 other military installations and bases throughout the country in joint venture with the Departments of the Army and Navy.

The Military Housing Privatization Initiative, authorized by Congress in 1996, allows the Defense Department to work with the private sector to upgrade, operate and maintain military family housing. The residential assets are typically leveraged with private investment to fund construction and renovation.