CORAMERICA ACQUIRES NORHDOFF PLAZA IN NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA
Wilson Commercial Real Estate to handle leasing at the center
NORTHRIDGE, Aug. 29, 2012— CorAmerica Capital (“CorAmerica”), in Joint Venture with an institutional partner, continued its equity investing through the purchase of Nordhoff Plaza, a 254,000-square-foot community center in the Los Angeles submarket of Northridge, Calif. The total project capitalization is approximately $90 million.
“This is a perfect opportunity to acquire a sizable infill retail project in a high-density submarket, with upside, at an attractive price,” said Bill Petak, Managing Principal at CorAmerica. ”CorAmerica plans to enhance property value with an immediate capital improvement, leasing and merchandizing program.”
CorAmerica has retained Austin Bettar and Peter Kay of Wilson Commercial to oversee leasing at Nordhoff Plaza.
Nordhoff Plaza is located at the corner of Nordhoff St. and Tampa Ave., directly across the street from the Northridge Fashion Center, the highest grossing (sales) regional mall in the San Fernando Valley. The retail center, anchored by Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Total Wine & More, Fresh & Easy, Office Max, and 24 Hour Fitness, provides an opportunity to lease up the shop space which is currently 50 percent leased.
CorAmerica is a commercial real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles that invests in both debt and equity across the entire capital structure. The company originates and acquires senior and subordinated mortgage loans on behalf of institutional clients. In addition, the company makes select opportunistic equity investments in assets or sub-markets that are positioned for a cyclical recovery as well as in assets that can be re-positioned to increase in value over time. Property types include office, industrial, retail, apartments, manufactured housing and hotels located in the United States.
CorAmerica also has an equity stake and as co-general partner manages the finances for SXC Hotels, a growing extended stay hotel company based in the Boston area. SXC owns 7 hotels and is developing 2 more properties in 2012-2013.
CorAmerica was founded by Ross Dworman and Bill Petak, each with more than 25 years of real estate investment experience. The team has a successful track record investing in both debt and equity on behalf of institutions and HNW family offices.
STEBBINS, XARRAS, AND CORAMERICA FORM SXC HOTEL COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, May 2012 – Mark Stebbins of S&S Hotels, Leo Xarras of Oleo Hotels and CorAmerica Capital today announced the formation and capitalization of SXC Hotels (“SXC”), a limited service and extended stay hotel company. New England based SXC focuses primarily on developing infill sites in the Boston-New York corridor and currently owns 6 nationally branded hotels in these markets. In addition, SXC has one hotel under construction near downtown Boston, and two other sites in the greater Boston MSA in final stages of approval for development. Mark Stebbins, managing member of SXC, noted, “Some submarkets in the Northeast are underserved, as demonstrated by the 82% occupancy levels in our operating portfolio last year. Our investment program is designed to take advantage of the cyclical recovery in the hotel sector while most of our competitors are either undercapitalized or managing legacy issues from the recent market downturn.”
SXC has been capitalized with a senior debt to total capital ratio of approximately 40%, which provides sufficient capacity to add several hotels to the portfolio in the next two years and increase total assets under ownership to approximately $200 million. Ross Dworman, a managing member of CorAmerica and SXC investment committee member noted, “CorAmerica’s relationship with an institutional partner facilitated a structure and capitalization of SXC whereby our ownership group retained the maximum equity stake possible while keeping debt coverage and leverage ratios conservative. Our financial structure saved SXC millions of dollars by limiting equity issuance and dilution of ownership.” SXC is over 85% owned by S&S Hotels, Oleo Hotels and CorAmerica.
SXC’s hotels are managed by Colwen Management (“Colwen”). Colwen was formed by S&S 18 years ago and manages 22 nationally branded hotels, primarily under the Marriott and Hilton flags. Colwen’s success is partly measured in its market penetration rates, which average 125%, and its quality product and operations. Leo Xarras, Chairman of Colwen noted, “We believe our superior product, and high quality service and marketing initiatives are the reasons behind our market leading penetration rates.”
CORAMERICA ORIGINATES $21 MILLION FIRST MORTGAGE LOAN ON OFFICE COMPLEX
LOS ANGELES, January 2011 – CorAmerica Capital, LLC (“CorAmerica”), a U.S. commercial and multifamily real estate lender, today announced the closing of a $20.8 million first mortgage loan secured by three office buildings in Los Angeles, California. CorAmerica originated and closed the 5-year, fixed rate loan for a local borrower in the media industry.
Ross Dworman, co-founder of CorAmerica, noted, “Our most recent loan complements our existing portfolio. The properties, three office buildings comprising 203,570 square feet in a strong Los Angeles submarket, are fully leased and largely owner-occupied. We like our low cost basis and the stable, long-term performance of the owner-operator.”
CorAmerica has originated a total of $170 million in first mortgage loans since it began lending in early 2010 and is targeting a total of $500 million in loan originations and acquisitions through 2012.
CORAMERICA ANNOUNCES $150 MILLION IN LENDING ACTIVITY
LOS ANGELES, October 2010 – CorAmerica Capital, LLC (“CorAmerica”), a U.S. commercial and multifamily real estate lender, today announced recent activity including first mortgage loan originations secured by five assets totaling approximately $150 million. CorAmerica originated the whole loans and arranged the sale of the senior positions to financial institutions; the junior positions were retained.
Bill Petak, co-founder of CorAmerica, noted, “We are pleased with our investment activity to date. The loans have all come through long-term correspondent or borrower relationships; I’m very happy to be back in the market lending and working with many of my long-term business associates. We look forward to playing an important role in the stabilization of the U.S. commercial mortgage market.”
CorAmerica, with an additional $20 million scheduled to close in the next two weeks, is targeting $500 million of new loan originations and acquisitions through 2012.
CORAMERICA PARTNERS WITH SUBSIDIARY OF STARWOOD PROPERTY TRUST
LOS ANGELES, March 2010 – CorAmerica Capital, LLC (“CorAmerica”), a U.S. commercial and multifamily real estate lender, has partnered with a subsidiary of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. to originate and acquire commercial real estate loans for properties located in the United States. The strategy is focused on making both whole loans and mezzanine loans, ranging from $10 million to $25 million, with target loan to value ratios up to 80%.
With a focus on smaller loans in select primary and secondary markets, CorAmerica’s lending platform will supplement Starwood’s existing, larger loan business.
Bill Petak, co-founder of CorAmerica, noted, “We are so excited to have partnered with such an exceptional team of professionals and highly regarded firm. Starwood itself has an extremely successful property lending business; we will do our best to add value by sourcing and underwriting smaller loans in secondary markets – which has been my bread and butter for over 20 years.”
Ross Dworman, co-founder of CorAmerica, added, “The current market offers exceptional lending opportunities, with unprecedented amounts of over leveraged loans maturing over the next few years, and we couldn’t be happier to initiate our lending efforts in this environment with a partner like Starwood.”
CorAmerica is targeting $500 million of new loan originations and acquisitions through 2012.