$110M in Financing Closes for Mid-Atlantic M-F Portfolio

Supplemental financing to the tune of $110 million has been completed for a portfolio of 61 apartment communities located in Maryland and Northern Virginia. Capmark Finance Inc. originated the loans via its Freddie Mac Program on behalf of affiliates of Southern Management Corp.The transaction comes about one year after Capmark orchestrated $777 million in first-mortgage debt on the portfolio and six other properties, for what is now a total debt facility of $887 million. Further financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. However, the interest rate for the supplemental financing was locked in last fall, and just in the nick of time “We actually locked the rate in before spreads started to widen too much,” John M. R. Reed, senior vice president in Capmark’s office in Richmond, Va., told CPN today. Southern Management plans to use the proceeds for the development of new apartment communities, as well as energy conservation improvements and amenity upgrades at existing properties.Most of Southern Management’s assets center on suburban Washington, D.C., markets in Northern Virginia and Maryland, as well as in Metropolitan Baltimore. Demand for apartments in both areas is significant. While the vacancy rate for investment grade apartment properties in the D.C. area inched up from the first quarter of 2006, it remained low at just 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, marking one of the lowest vacancy rates in the country, according to a report by commercial real estate research firm Delta Associates. The Baltimore area, although grappling with a slowdown in job growth and an increase in new deliveries, still has a relatively low vacancy rate of 6.1 percent. Headquartered in Vienna, Va., Southern Management is the largest privately owned residential property concern in the Mid-Atlantic region. The company owns and manages a total of approximately 25,000 multi-family units at 70 apartment communities in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas. Southern Management’s portfolio also includes office centers.