Four Houston Complexes Secure $32.5-Mil Refinancing

HOUSTON-The Winrock Houston portfolio has received $32.5 million in fixed-rate permanent financing with a 20-year amortization from IDS Life Insurance Co.

Allan Dannatt, senior vice president of the Houston retail production office of Horsham, PA-based GMAC Commercial Mortgage arranged the financing. The financing is for four Houston-area apartment complexes: Barcelona Apartments, Westgate Apartments, Briarwood Apartments and Briarwest Apartments. All of the complexes areeight stories and along or near Winrock Boulevard in the Uptown-Galleria submarket. Winrock-Houston Associates LP, an entity of Denver-based apartment REIT, Aimco, is the owner of the class B complexes, all about 20 years old.

Dannatt tells GlobeSt.com that the refinancing is representative of a “brisk Houston market.” The current activity, he says, is a result of strong job growth and increased investor interest. Dannatt says the GMAC Houston office has been closing generally one deal per week on loans averaging $5 million.

Dannatt says investors in other cities are pulling out of less secure markets in favor of Houston’s stable investment arena. “This keeps the appetite for lending cooking,” he says.GMAC Commercial Mortgage also arranged a $1.45-million, fixed-rate financing for the 68-unit Saxon Village Apartments in the South Texas border town of McAllen. The 67,000-sf complex is situated on 3.3 acres. Schmidt Properties Ltd. received the financing, with a 15-year amortization, from Sun Life of Canada. Clay DeCarlo, of GMAC’s Houston retail production office arranged the deal.