JH Snyder secures $117M construction loan for Miracle Mile project

Developer Jerry Snyder is finally ready to break ground on a long-planned project next to SAG-AFTRA Plaza.

Maryland-based CapitalSource has provided a $117 million construction loan for J.H. Snyder Company’s luxury residential development at 640 South Curson Avenue, according to Commercial Observer. Snyder’s company proposed the Miracle Mile project in March and a month later secured a $105 million mortgage from John Hancock to refinance SAG-AFTRA Plaza.

The Capital Source loan is a non-recourse loan with a five-year term and options to extend. A non-recourse loan is secured by the property but does not allow a lender to seek additional compensation in the event of a default. The lender takes on additional risk and so typically lends at a higher interest rate. The exact detail of the loan aren’t clear. A firm called OGO Associates of Wilshire is a co-borrower.

The 20-story Residences at Wilshire Curson will be built next to the 11-story SAG-AFTRA Plaza building, named for its longtime tenant, the Screen Actors Guild. Snyder calls the larger property Museum Square. It’s across Curson Street from the LA Brea Tar Pits.

Snyder’s company secured an entitlement for a 12-story office tower there in 2015 and in March requested a change to residential.

The new development will include 285 rental units, two stories of parking, a gym, rooftop pool, and clubhouse, among other amenities. Lon Snyder, a partner at J.H. Snyder, said the company switched up its plans when it “recognized that an apartment project of this scale holds substantial pent up demand,” according to Commercial Observer.

The firm built SAG-AFTRA Plaza, its first office project, in 1982 and maintained its own headquarters there since.

A handful of other residential projects have cropped up in the area, including NMS Properties’ 15-story, 122-unit tower at 6401 Wilshire Boulevard.  [CO] – Dennis Lynch