LEM Closes Mezzanine Loan on Dallas
Apartment Building

LEM Mezzanine, a direct lender and investor in high-leverage mezzanine debt and preferred equity, recently closed a $4 million mezzanine loan as part of a $60 million purchase of a class A apartment building in Carrolton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Column Financial provided the $46.5 million first mortgage loan.

"This is a great example of LEM's ability to offer risk-adjusted pricing. The aggressive pricing on this deal reflected the substantial equity investment made by the sponsor," said Herb Miller, a partner in LEM.

LEM structures its investments in a variety of different ways including mezzanine loans, preferred equity and A/B notes and provides fundings behind new conduit and agency loans with terms of up to ten years. LEM also specializes in providing financing in transactions where there is existing first mortgage debt. They have worked with a number of different servicers and special servicers to develop structures that either comply with existing loan covenants or can be approved quickly.

LEM, a $200 million fund, focuses on multifamily, office, retail and industrial properties nationwide, generally valued in the $10 million to $60 million range, and makes mezzanine investments of between $1 million and $10 million per property. It provides financing of up to 85% to 90% of the capital structure with terms of up ten years. LEM's principals include Ira Lubert, Jay Eisner and Herb Miller. LEM's objective is to invest over $100 million per year. LEM and Lubert-Adler are part of Independence Capital Partners, a family of private investment management firms with over $3 billion of capital under management.