| MBA (1/4/2007) Murray, Michael Rockport Mortgage Corporation (RMC) Gloucester, Mass., arranged for $37 million in first mortgage financing for six multifamily properties located in Clarksville, Tenn. Clarksville, nearly 50 miles northwest of Nashville, is close to the home of the 101st Army Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. Dirk Falardeau originated the deals which closed in less than 30 days. Falardeau said the relatively high occupancy of military personnel added a special challenge to the underwriting of the deal. Five of the six class B properties were cross collateralized, but include individual release provisions based on a payoff amount of 125 percent of the loan allocated to a particular property. Additionally, the combined debt service coverage (DSC) ratio of the remaining properties had to be not less than 1.25. “ The most difficult part of these transactions was structuring the release provisions and negotiating a modified recourse level that was acceptable to our client and our correspondent,” Falardeau said. The loans have a three-year term with interest-only payments based on a floating rate over the 30 day LIBOR and were conventionally financed by a Rockport correspondent commercial bank based in Ohio. Although Rockport Mortgage is primarily a HUD lender, the decision was made to place the loans with a balance sheet lender rather than HUD, a GSE or conduit to allow for greater flexibility with regard to sponsorship and prepayment. Keeping with the Tennessee sub-market theme, RMC also arranged for $3.1 million in financing for a Class A multifamily property in Jackson Tenn. Jackson, located nearly 80 miles northeast of Memphis, is considered a strong secondary market, according to Falardeau. The Jackson deal was also a three-year loan with interest-only payments. | 
