Northmarq’s Debt + Equity team arranges $43M refinance of Oakbrook Center in Palm Beach Gardens, FL

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Northmarq’s West Palm Beach Debt + Equity team led by David Gahagan and Chandler Kaye successfully arranged the $43 million refinance of Oakbrook Center, a 243,350-sq.-ft. general office building located at 11760, 11770 and 11780 UW Hwy 1 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Northmarq arranged the permanent-fixed financing on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between MHCommercial Real Estate Fund (“MHCommercial”) of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Waterfall Asset Management (“Waterfall”), through a correspondent relationship with Deutsche Bank’s Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) platform. The transaction was structured on a five-year term.

“Older office buildings and ground leases are generally not accepted by most lenders, however the locally iconic Oakbrook Center has a success story that helped overcome those two challenges,” Gahagan said. “This included backfilling two 12,000 sq. ft. vacancies over the last 6 months with national tenants relocating from downtown West Palm Beach.”

Built in 1985, Oakbrook Center features three buildings situated on 11.5 acres. The Class A office complex includes covered parking, professional on-site property management, an exclusive on-site fitness center with Peloton bikes, cardio weight equipment and showers, stacked private terraces, floor-to-ceiling windows, lush landscaping, a courtyard and water views.

The property is minutes from U.S.  Highway 1 and Interstate 95, and it is located nearby downtown West Palm Beach. The property boasts close proximity to food and shopping, including Legacy Place and The Gardens Mall.  

The MHCommercal/Waterfall team acquired the property, formerly known as Golden Bear Plaza, in May 2020, making it one of the largest commercial real estate transactions completed in the United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MHC/Waterfall team retained NAI/Merin Hunter Codman as property manager and leasing agent. Since the acquisition, they have successfully executed on implementing upgrades and capital improvements which allowed the leasing team of Lesley Sheinberg, Jason Sundook and Neil Merin to retain existing tenants, attract new businesses and significantly increase rents as they signed over 145,000 square feet of new and renewal leases.

“Financing office buildings remains challenging in the current environment. Our successful refinance of Oakbrook Center is a testament to the high quality of the building, the strength of the South Florida/Palm Beach County office market and the tremendous job that our leasing and property management teams have done to create and maintain value at this asset,” said Jordan Paul, Chief Executive Officer of NAI Merin Hunter Codman and MHCommercial. “We appreciate the great work done by the Northmarq team, our legal team at Shutts and Bowen and the debt team at Deutsche Bank to refinance this trophy property.”