A Rental Renaissance?
The owners of a broken Downtown condo project are turning it into rental after snagging a five-year refi deal. LA-based Cohen & Associates CEO Gidi Cohen convinced Prudential Mortgage to take a chance on a $10M refi loan for the multifamily portion of Renaissance Walk, a 140-unit former condo project in Historic Auburn Ave District. The move gives Cohen & Associates (which picked up the project from receivership in 2011) another five years to sell it to another investor or turn the units back into condos and sell individually, Gidi tells us.
"This project is complex," Gidi says (biggest understatement of 2013?). "What we had to do first was separate title between the residential and the retail." The retail portion of Renaissance (30,500 SF that is 60% leased) is still on a separate loan. And now Gidi is attempting to find a bank to refinance it. Cohen & Associates—which owns properties in Orlando as well—is still hunting more Atlanta distressed and value-add retail and multifamily investments in the $10M to $25M range.
