Orlando Bridge Lenders for Commercial Real Estate

LV Lending, a direct private lending firm in South Florida, funded a $4,500,000 1st lien position bridge loan secured by a 0.9-acre vacant site in Downtown Orlando, FL. The property was acquired in 2005 for approximately $2,460,000. The Borrower, a Canadian-based developer, received preliminary site plan approval to develop a 28-story mixed-use building with 360 residential units, a 150-key hotel, a five-story parking garage, and 14,239 square feet of ground-floor retail space. All approvals are expected to be secured by the end of 2020 with groundbreaking slated for Q4 2021. Our bridge loan will likely be paid off with a large construction loan when the project is ready to go vertical. The Borrower has been involved in all facets of commercial real estate including the acquisition, rehabilitation, development, and disposition of properties. Its North American developments and holdings are valued at approximately $350 million. The firm is headquartered in Toronto but maintains U.S. offices in Orlando and Daytona Beach. This CRE bridge loan was funded in August 2020.

BridgeInvest closed a $7MM senior bridge loan secured by a 185-unit multifamily complex in Orlando, FL. The loan allowed the sponsor to cash out a portion of the equity created and invest in new opportunities, despite the fact that the property remains in lease-up. The property used to be a hotel, was recently gut-renovated by the owner after years of vacancy. The property benefits from a convenient location off of the FL Turnpike in the rapidly expanding Kissimmee submarket of Orlando. The loan was structured to include an initial advance of $5.5 MM followed by three future advances (‘earn-outs’) as certain occupancy hurdles are reached. These earn-outs will benefit the borrower with immediate equity recapture as they add value through lease-up. This loan was funded in July 2017.

In February 2016, Wilshire Finance Partners funded a bridge loan for the refinance and return of equity for a seasoned assisted living facility operator in Central Florida. The previous private mortgage was maturing, and a quick refinance was needed along with additional cash out. Due to a growing demand in the area for senior care, the Borrowers needed additional funds to expand their 75-bed facility to take in new patients. This loan was very complicated with numerous borrowing entities and equity investors with laddered tiers of participation. Wilshire’s in-house legal team was able to work with this complicated ownership structure and funded the loan in just 15 days from the receipt of application. Within that time, Wilshire’s Senior Vice President made a trip from LA to Orlando to do a site visit and meet the Borrowers. The estimated value of the facility is $5,800,000 so the loan-to-value for our 1st trust deed loan is 58%. After completing the construction project and taking in new patients, the facility operator plans to refinance with a conventional loan within 2 years.