(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkadia, Berkshire Hathaway’s joint venture with Jefferies Financial Group, has arranged the JV equity financing for The TRIBECA, a new condo development by Urban Investment Partners (UIP) in the rapidly growing NoMa submarket of Washington D.C.
The team, consisting of Noam Franklin, Chinmay Bhatt and Cody Kirkpatrick, leading Berkadia’s new JV Equity & Structured Capital, arranged the equity partner, a private capital group, for UIP while they were with Central Park Capital Partners (CPCP), which was sold to Berkadia in March 2019.
“Ground up condo projects in today’s market are tough to get capitalized, but we were able to quickly find UIP a partner for this opportunity due to the developer’s expertise in the DC area and lack of new supply in the emerging neighborhood of NoMa,” said Franklin. “We are always impressed with UIP’s vision for their projects and investing across multiple cycles with success.”
The TRIBECA, a transit-oriented development, will feature 99 market-rate condominium units in the highly desirable NoMa submarket, a neighborhood with a limited upcoming condo supply. The 13-story building will include a mix of one- and two-bedroom homes, as well as a fitness center, bike storage, garage parking and a rooftop deck.
The site is located at 39-41 New York Ave., just one block from the NoMa-Gallaudet University Metro station. Construction has commenced with an expected completion in late 2020.
About Berkadia
Founded in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation (now known as Jefferies Financial Group), Berkadia is a third-party commercial mortgage servicer, as well as an approved lender for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD/FHA.
The company is among the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae multifamily lenders.
Berkadia owes its origins to GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation, which was acquired in 2009 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. Christened Capmark Financial, the company had $10 billion of originations in 2008 and a servicing portfolio of more than $360 billion before running into bankruptcy in October 2009.
In a deal approved by the bankruptcy court, Capmark sold its mortgage loan and servicing to the newly formed Berkadia in a deal worth $515 million.
The deal brought Berkshire into the heart of the commercial loan serving business, and the company has one of the largest commercial real estate servicing portfolios.
© 2019 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.