Berkadia announces it has secured a $70.76 million bridge loan for UnionWest at Creative Village, a trophy 640-bed, mixed-use, high-rise student housing complex located in Downtown Orlando, Florida, serving the UCF/Valencia Downtown Campus. Managing Directors Michael Weinberg and Rebecca Van Reken, along with Associate Director Alec Fox of Berkadia Orlando, secured the financing on behalf of the sponsors: Development Ventures Group, Ustler Development and Halstatt Real Estate Partners.
Bank of America provided the loan which will be used to take out the existing construction loan, which Michael Weinberg arranged in 2017 in tandem with Halstatt Real Estate Partners’ equity investment in the project. The property is over 95 percent leased as of refinancing.
UnionWest at Creative Village was completed in 2019 in conjunction with the opening of the UCF/Valencia Downtown Campus with over 7,000 students.
“UnionWest is one of the most unique, mixed-use buildings in the country. It offers students and faculty a truly special experience in a dense, urban setting. The high level sponsorship and asset performance generated very competitive lender interest,” said Weinberg.
Located at 601 West Livingston Street, UnionWest at Creative Village is a 15-story high-rise representing purpose-built student housing offering four-bedroom floor plans with contemporary finishes, skyline views of Orlando, high-speed WiFi, extended cable TV, and other services. Community amenities include a resident-only Skydeck, study areas, kitchen and laundry services on each floor and the Downtown Campus recreation and wellness center. Both Valencia College and UCF lease education space in the property; Valencia leases 55,000 square feet including their new state-of-the-art Walt Disney World Center for Culinary Arts and Hospitality. UCF leases 46,910 square feet for its academic and student support services. UnionWest is an integral part of the UCF/Valencia Downtown Campus and is located across the street from the new 2.3 acre Luminary Green Park (opening in 2022).
UnionWest includes approximately 12,000 square-feet of ground floor commercial space leased to Subway, Dunkin’, Vera Asian, Qdoba and Addition Financial. The UnionWest parking garage contains 602 spaces – approximately 300 spaces allocated for residents and the remaining 300 spaces available for public/daily parking.
Located within the Creative Village in Downtown Orlando, UnionWest is in the urban Innovation District that focuses on a live, work, learn and play lifestyle surrounded by higher education, mixed-income residential and student housing, office space, creative studios, hotels and parks. Electronic Arts Orlando Studio, with over 800 professionals, was recently completed at Creative Village.
This is the second high-profile financing that Berkadia’s Orlando-based mortgage banking team has executed in Downtown Orlando since the onset of the pandemic. In September of 2020, the team also secured a $72.9M construction take-out loan on behalf of Lincoln Property Company, Mason Capital Partners, and Pope & Land Enterprises for SunTrust Plaza at Church Street Station, a 209,000-square-foot trophy office tower.
