Philly-Area Owner Secures $285.5M Refinancing On Temple University-Area Apartments

Walker & Dunlop completed $285.5M in refinancing for two student apartments on the Temple University campus, its largest transaction in Philadelphia all year and one of the largest student accommodation deals closed across the nation in 2024, according to the company.

The firm helped originate Freddie Mac loans at seven-year fixed rates along with preferred equity investments on equal terms for both properties, owned by Blue Bell-based Goldenberg Group.

The refinancing deal is among the largest for campus apartment properties in the region this year, Walker & Dunlop Senior Managing Director Adam Schwartz told Bisnow.

“The flight-to-quality makes a very big difference here. There's a bunch of other student housing facilities right around the area, and they're not doing as well,” Schwartz said, noting that both properties are Class-A mixed-use properties. “And I think that's just simply because of the quality of the product.”

The dual deal closed July 9, according to Walker & Dunlop, a large originator that completed more than $20B in deals for multifamily properties last year.

This deal is its first with Goldenberg Group.

Loans for the two properties, The Vantage and The View at Montgomery, were set to mature by Sept. 9 of this year and Jan. 1 of next year, respectively, according to servicer notes cited by Morningstar Credit.

The apartment towers are located adjacent to each other, just west of Columbia Field, and feature on-site retail, including Chipotle and other restaurants.

“Our commitment is to be a source of positive transformation in the neighborhood and deliver exceptional student housing experiences in vibrant university communities,” Mark Caltabiano, executive vice president of asset management at The Goldenberg Group, said in the announcement, adding that the deal “truly demonstrated the power of the Walker & Dunlop platform to pull together a complex transaction.”

Combined new loan proceeds are $176M on the 323K SF Vantage building, a 10-story, 368-unit property at 1717 N. 12th St. The property opened five years ago, according to a servicer note.

New loan proceeds are $109.5M for The View at Montgomery, a 14-story, 238-unit property on 1100 W. Montgomery Ave. Like The Vantage, the property features studio to four-bedroom units across 236K SF of rentable space. It opened in 2014. 

Servicer notes from June 2021 show that The View was last appraised at $133M in 2017. Notes from June of this year show that The Vantage made interest-only balloon payments as it neared the end of its term.

Both the Temple properties now are offering gift cards worth up to $2000 deal to sign a lease for select floors, according to their websites, but they are hardly unique in offering such perks. Apartment owners throughout the city are offering concessions to entice renters to sign on to multifamily units due to a glut of new product, Bisnow reported in March.