Cortland refinances Tampa projects with $106 million loan

An Atlanta-based apartment owner has refinanced debt tied to at least two of its Tampa-area multifamily rental projects and reconfigured ownership in the process, Hillsborough County records show.

Cortland Partners LLC executed the new $106 million loan with Fannie Mae and broker Walker & Dunlop last month, according to records.

At the same time, the company reconfigured ownership of the Island Walk and Parker’s Landing apartments.

Cortland, founded in 2005 and one of the Top 20 owners of apartments nationwide, according to a recent ranking by the National Multifamily Housing Council, bought Island Walk in June 2014 for $50 million. The recent corporate shift, from Harborside FL Apartment Partners LLC to Harborside FL Apartment Partners II LLC, valued the project at $57.8 million.

The 720-unit complex, at 5365 Harborside Drive, in Tampa’s Town N’ Country section, was completed in 1985 and renovated substantially in 2007. Rents in the complex range from $1,008 monthly to $1,859 per month, according to Apartments.com.

The new financing replaces debt from an affiliate of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. dating to August 2018, records indicate. KREF Lending I LLC’s $152.8 million loan to Cortland’s entities also appears to have covered the company’s Gallery at Baypoint and Parker’s Landing complexes, Hillsborough County records show.

The new financing illustrates that institutional lenders such as Fannie Mae remain optimistic that Tampa area gains in employment and population — the metropolitan area has been ranked as among the fastest-growing in the U.S. since 2014 — will continue for the foreseeable future.

Tampa has also rated highly for apartment appreciation in recent years, as more people become comfortable with renting vs. home ownership nationwide.

Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, is a U.S. government-sponsored entity that is also traded publicly. It is also one of the leading providers of debt to both single-family and multifamily communities. In 2018, the enterprise reported net income of $16 billion and provided $512 billion worth of liquidity to housing markets nationwide, according to its website.

Neither Cortland officials nor Walker & Dunlop executives in Florida who worked on the transactions could be reached for comment regarding the new financing or the need to establish new ownership entities.

In all, Courtland owns six multifamily rental properties in the Tampa area, including Island Walk; Bowery Bayside; and Parker’s Landing, each in Tampa; Retreat at Bermuda Lake, in Brandon; The Livingston, in Lutz; and the Coves at Brighton Bay, in St. Petersburg.