Pathman Lewis attorneys helped arrange $108 million in refinancing for Miami-based client Tzadik Acquisitions LLC from Societe Generale for 14 apartment properties located in six Florida counties.
The law firm represented Tzadik Acquisitions when it bought most of the complexes in 2014 from a number of affiliated sellers for $81 million. At the time, JPMorgan Chase provided commercial mortgage-backed securities financing for properties with 2,383 units in Duval, Hillsborough, Lake, Orange, Polk and Sarasota counties.
"The new financing through Societe Generale allowed the owner to take advantage of the increasingly competitive CMBS market, which provided an interest rate, payment terms and other loan features that the owner found very compelling," said Pathman Lewis co-founder Harold Lewis, who oversaw the legal team.
Other attorneys involved included partners Wayne Pathman and Peter Meltzer and associate Laura Lefebvre.
"Closing a CMBS loan on the borrower side requires a specific skill set that we have developed over many years of practice," Lewis said. "While the payment terms can be more attractive than typical institutional financing, there are multiple requirements and pitfalls arising from the securitization of the financing that need to be carefully negotiated. Plus there is a high level of due diligence involved in these deals."
Another CMBS transaction arranged by the firm in the past year included a $61 million loan on a landmark office building in Coral Gables.
Pathman Lewis is based in Miami and specializes in real estate, financing and acquisitions as well as government relations and business, environmental and water law.