$77.5M financing secured for Philadelphia multi-housing development

MORRISTOWN, March 16, 2023 – JLL Capital Markets announced today that it has arranged $77.5 million in construction financing for a 279-unit, seven-story, luxury multi-housing development with 8,449 square feet of ground-floor retail, located in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This project will the first phase of a two-phased development totaling 466 units and approximately 15,000 square feet of retail.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, Saxum Real Estate, to secure the three-year, floating-rate loan through a U.S. life insurance company.

The development of the first phase will consist of 42 studio units, 187 one-bedroom units, 45 two-bedroom units and five three-bedroom units with spacious floorplans, private balconies, large windows, stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and luxury vinyl tile flooring. After completion of both phases, community amenities will include cafés, co-working spaces, a state-of-the art fitness/wellness center, a dog wash station, rooftop lounges, a demonstration kitchen and clubrooms with cinema-quality televisions and pool tables.

Situated at 711-735 N. Front St., the property spans two full city blocks, bordered between Front Street, Delaware Avenue, Fairmount Avenue and Brown Street, within the trendy Northern Liberties neighborhood, a major enclave of young professionals, artists, and design professionals. The site is strategically located less than .25 miles from the Spring Garden subway station on the Market-Frankford line, providing tenants convenient access to Center City Philadelphia in less than 10 minutes. In addition, the development sits east of I-95 North, offering proximity to the North on-ramp, and just 1.2 miles from the entrance to the Ben Franklin Bridge, allowing connectivity to New Jersey.

The JLL Capital Markets Debt Advisory team was led by Senior Managing Directors Michael Klein and Ryan Ade, Senior Director Thomas E. Didio, Jr., Director Gerard Quinn and Associate Blaine Fleming.

“JLL is pleased to work alongside Saxum to help capitalize their second multi-housing development in the Philadelphia market. We are excited to see them execute on their vision for the project,” said Didio Jr. “The lender was able to recognize the exciting opportunity and did a great job closing this non-recourse construction loan during a challenging time in the debt capital markets.”

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment and sales advisory, debt advisory, equity advisory or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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Saxum Real Estate is a national vertically-integrated real estate investment and development firm. Saxum’s portfolio extends a variety of asset classes with capitalizations surpassing $2 billion and includes over 2.5MM SF of ground-up cold storage development, 1,400 multifamily rental units, 4,000 student housing beds, and over 1MM of other assets. Our development pipeline totals well over $1 billion in capitalization across multifamily, student housing, cold storage and industrial investments ranging from value-add to ground-up development. www.saxumre.com.