LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thorofare Capital, Inc. (“Thorofare”) originated 19 debt investments totaling $327 million in capital commitments for 2020, reporting the busiest fourth quarter in the bridge lender’s 10-year history. Felix Gutnikov, Thorofare’s Head of Originations, emphasized that the firm “pivoted” its sourcing strategies in 2020 to identify special situation lending opportunities that typically surface amid capital markets volatility. “We identified several options that emerged during this period of market dislocation, which was primarily spurred by COVID-19, government enacted lockdowns and the ensuing global health crisis,” Gutnikov said.
Given many banks’ abrupt pullback from lender financing, Thorofare also was active in note-on-note funding, whereby it provides leverage to opportunistic debt investors who purchase both performing and non-performing loans. Scenarios the firm financed included a non-performing, five-year industrial term loan purchased from a CMBS special servicer and a performing senior housing construction loan acquired from a publicly traded mortgage REIT in need of a quick liquidity solution.
Kevin Miller, Thorofare’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “Thorofare’s noteworthy 2020 production under such trying market conditions underscores the capabilities of our vertically-integrated platform, from our fundraising distribution channels to nationwide originations and asset management, as well as the preparedness of our focused senior debt strategy that we forged in 2010.”
Additional property types financed include medical office, single-tenant net-leased retail and entitled multifamily land, with wide-ranging structures, durations, and assets in various stages of their life cycle from pre-development, value-add and stabilized profiles. In addition to note-on-note financing through collateral assignments, Thorofare started actively acquiring senior participations from other lenders who aim to lever their positions.
Thorofare’s proprietary deal sourcing capabilities also enabled it to provide capital to active investors. For example, the firm underwrote, structured, and acquired a senior participation of a first mortgage funded by a Midwest-based lender. The borrower is a global development company prepping a high-density multifamily project in the heart of Atlanta’s affluent Buckhead Village.
Thorofare’s 2020 activity included financing more than 1.5 million square feet of industrial assets, counting e-commerce distribution facilities in the Inland Empire, east of Los Angeles and in Savannah, GA, which serves the fast-growing Garden City Terminal, in addition to refrigerated warehouse space in Navarre, Ohio leased to North America’s largest temperature-controlled logistics provider. In concert with the soaring demand from equity and debt investors for industrial properties as the global pandemic continues to impact consumer trends, the asset class gained the majority of Thorofare’s loan origination activity followed by multifamily and office.
“Given our portfolio composition and credit performance of existing positions prior to March, we were well-equipped to traverse the post-COVID lending environment and swiftly add new positions at attractive metrics and accretive pricing,” added Brendan Miller, Thorofare’s Chief Investment Officer.
Thorofare’s activity included various asset classes, and since the onset of COVID-19 has provided financing across California, Washington, Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida, with the following representative transactions:
- $40 million acquisition loan for 192nd West Lofts, a 163-unit, three building apartment complex in the Fisher’s Landing East sub-market of Vancouver, Washington
- $26 million post-acquisition financing for 650-700 Pacific Coast Highway, an R&D facility in El Segundo, California
- $23.8 million acquisition loan for 415 N. Camden Drive in the Golden Triangle and 152-160 S. Lasky Drive, a medical office portfolio in Beverly Hills, California near The Peninsula Hotel
- $23.7 million acquisition loan for Pellisier Logistics Center, a 232,588-square-foot industrial warehouse and distribution facility in Southern California’s rapidly expanding Inland Empire
- $21 million recapitalization financing for Aspire at James Island, a newly built 127-unit luxury multifamily community in Charleston, South Carolina
- $18 million refinance of 301 Arthur Godfrey, a mixed-use asset consisting of an office building and entitled residential development site in Miami Beach, Florida
- $16 million loan for the acquisition, gut renovation and upgrading of a 30-unit midrise apartment building in West Los Angeles’ supply-constrained Brentwood neighborhood
“Our capital markets expertise allowed us to capture an attractive loan portfolio with the benefits of geographic diversification, numerous transaction types and sought-after property types,” noted David Perlman, Thorofare’s Managing Director of Capital Markets, who joined the firm in January 2020 to open its New York City office.
About Thorofare Capital
Thorofare Capital, Inc. (www.thorofarecapital.com) is a national, vertically integrated commercial real estate debt manager. The Los Angeles-based firm focuses on $7.5 million to $100 million financing transactions, targeting value-add and opportunistic acquisitions, recapitalizations, and distressed debt secured by transitional properties. Its affiliate, Thorofare LLC, is a registered investment adviser specializing in alternative fixed-income opportunities through US commercial real estate debt investments. With a national presence, Thorofare has originated more than $2.5 billion since firm inception in 2010, across 10+ property types throughout 30 states.