It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for Neil Shekhter’s WSC Communities.
The firm, led by CEO Scott Walter and Shekhters’ sons, most recently scored a $125 million financing package for two residential projects in Los Angeles, The Real Deal has learned.
The financing, from Madison Realty Capital, allows WSC and its affiliate WS Communities to buy out its partner on the projects at 1550 Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica and 11001 Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. It also allows the developer to finish up construction on a 100-unit project at 1550 Lincoln, which topped out in 2020, and get started at 11001 Pico.
11001 Pico Boulevard
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lev Capital’s Justin Piasecki and Desmond Holzman-Hansen brokered the financing along with Rahim Thobani of RST Capital Partners.
On Pico Boulevard, WSC is planning to build 89 residential units, including 10 reserved for extremely low-income households, as well as just under 8,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Plans were originally filed for the development in 2018, city planning documents show.
The loan package comes a few weeks after Shekhter sold eight developable parcels in Santa Monica to Tishman Speyer for around $150 million. The New York-based commercial giant is now planning to build 620 units on the sites, its first big residential play in the Los Angeles area.
This is the latest in a series of financings that Madison has done for the Shekhters. In 2020, WS Communities landed a $150 million financing package from Madison to renovate six multifamily buildings and build a mixed-use development site on Nebraska Avenue and Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica.
Madison declined to comment on the deal. The firm, led by Josh Zegen, Adam Tantleff and Brian Shatz, has become a major lender in the Southern California area. In December, it provided Harridge Development with $485 million to start building studio space and residential units at Crossroads Hollywood, its $1 billion mixed-use development.