ATLANTA: A Rental Renaissance?
The owners of a broken Downtown Atlanta 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 Avenue District. The move gives Cohen & Associates (which picked up the project from receivership in '11) another five years to sell it to another investor or turn the units back into condos and sell individually, Gidi tells us. (It's not as urgent as Cinderella, but the ROI may be higher.) "What we had to do first was separate title between the residential and the retail," Gidi says. The retail portion of Renaissance (31k SF, 60% leased) is still on a separate loan. And now Gidi is attempting to find a bank to refi it.
