TARP Funds Fuel DC Refinancing

ROCKVILLE, MD-A common complaint about the Troubled Asset Relief Program is that the banks receiving funds under the government program were not doing what they were supposed to do with the money–namely lend it out. A recent refinance of a local office building, though, is one of the exceptions, according to Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers’ Jon Goldstein, who was part of a team that arranged the transaction.

Goldstein, along with Philip Mudd and Christian Miles, arranged a $15.8 million refinancing with a Baltimore-based bank for Metro Executive Park I & II, located at 15800 and 15850 Crabbs Branch Way here. The building owner, BPG Properties, secured a three-year, floating rate loan for the three-story office buildings that total 123,799 square feet. The properties are 93% leased; BPG renovated the property in 2006 and 2007.

When BPG acquired the properties a few years ago it also assumed a CMBS loan that was coming due, Goldstein tells GlobeSt.com. The loan had been underwritten at 70% LTV, leaving it with few refinance options in this credit constrained environment. “We brought a local bank to the table with whom they did not have a previous relationship,” Goldstein says, declining to name the bank. The institution had received money under TARP and was actively looking to deploy the capital. “It put a competitive quote on the table” and the entire loan was refinanced, he says.

BPG’s story will be repeated manifold over the next few years as billions of dollars worth of CMBS loans come due. Unfortunately–at least as things stand right now–this outcome may prove to be more the exception than the rule.

This loan, unlike more recent vintages, was written to relatively sane underwritten standards. It was amortized and done at a decent debt service coverage ratio, Goldstein says. Also few lenders are willing to take a chance even on performing debt right now, he adds. “Life insurance companies are maxing out at 65% LTVs.

All of this may change should the Financial Stability Plan, unveiled by the Treasury Department yesterday start to have an impact. Among other measures, the plan provides support for the purchase of AAA-rated CMBS. But right now, Goldstein says, “for the most part, credit is very tight.”