New Orleans Industrial-Flex Portfolio Gets $38M Refi

NOLA Logistics Portfolio. Image courtesy of JLL Capital Markets

Briar Meads Capital, a New York-based real estate investment management firm, has refinanced a 15-building industrial-flex portfolio located near the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport with a $38 million, 10-year, fixed rate CMBS loan through Starwood Mortgage Capital.

A JLL Capital Markets team led by Managing Director Peter Rotchford and Associate Mitchell Kaliner represented the borrower and arranged the refinancing with Starwood.

READ ALSO: Vacancy Drives Industrial Pricing Surge

The portfolio comprises 13 logistics facilities and two office buildings totaling nearly 600,000 square feet within the James Business Park in St. Rose, La. The properties are home to a diverse roster of more than 50 tenants with average leases of approximately 10,000 square feet each. The portfolio is strategically located near major transportation routes in the New Orleans region, including the Louise Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Port of New Orleans, Interstate 10 and U.S. Routes 61 and 90.

Rotchford said in a prepared statement the portfolio has seen strong demand because the New Orleans industrial market has a constrained supply. He also noted that it does not make much economic sense to build new industrial-flex assets because of prohibitive construction costs.

Briar Meads Capital was formed to acquire loan assets from financial institutions after the 2008 financial crisis. It has since evolved into a diversified real estate investment management company.

Together with its strategic partners, Briar Meads Capital has completed more than 70 transactions valued at more than $600 million.

In February, the firm acquired two office and industrial-flex assets in the Crosswinds Business Park near I-35 in San Antonio, Texas, for an undisclosed price, according to the San Antonio Business Journal. The properties have 104,265 square feet and 97,808 square feet. The business publication reported Briar Meads plans to sell the larger of the two properties.