AvalonBay Communities has secured $167 million in construction financing for its 475-unit mixed-use development in the Arts District.
The loan came from a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
The AVA Arts District project is set to rise on a 3.75-acre site at 668 South Alameda Street. It will have 60,000 square feet of commercial space along with its rental units. The Los Angeles City Council approved the project in 2018.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Rob Rubano arranged the loan, according to the report. AvalonBay started setting up the financing before the pandemic hit, and the loan ended up getting delayed three months, he said.
“Had we not started it pre-Covid, we would probably still be working on it,” he told the outlet.
Nationwide, the pandemic caused lenders and developers to slam the brakes on much of their activity in the early months. But some of that picked up in the second quarter, with domestic banks providing $380 billion in construction loans from April through June. Most of that went to large commercial projects.
Most projects that break ground this year will take at least a couple of years to deliver, including AVA Arts District, which is slated for completion in 2022. [LABJ] — Dennis Lynch