Thomas Properties, a Southern California real estate investor, recently went on a refinancing binge, successfully making moves on five different properties in a month's time.

Thomas, along with its joint venture partner California State Teachers Retirement System, began by negotiating a $350 million loan on the City National Plaza office building in downtown Los Angeles with MetLife and the New York State Teachers Retirement System. The new loan is due in July 2020 and carries an interest rate of 5.9%. CalSTRS also agreed to retire a $219 million mezzanine loan, converting into equity in the property. Before the transaction, the California pension fund had a 75% interest in City National Plaza, and now it holds 92%.

MetLife was also the lender on a $110 million refinancing of the San Felipe Plaza office building in Houston. The joint venture received a $1.7 million discount on the early payoff. The new note is due in 8.3 years and carries an interest rate of 4.78%. The joint venture also used a life company, Northwestern Mutual, for the $65 million refinancing of 2500 City West Blvd. in Houston. The new loan came with a $3.1 million discount applied to the payoff of the old note. The new loan comes due in 9.3 years and carries a 5.53% interest rate.

Wells Fargo originated a $55 million floating rate loan for the Brookhollow Central property in Los Angeles, with an interest rate of LIBOR plus 2.65% over three years.

Thomas also negotiated an extension for a construction loan on a Philadelphia condo property secured by the unsold units. The successor to shuttered Corus Bank, Corus Construction Ventures, agreed to extend the loan for one year with a fee of $275,000. The loan carries an interest rate of either 9.5% or LIBOR plus 3.25%, whichever is higher.

Thomas has come under fire for carrying too much leverage on its portfolio, so the refinancing could take some pressure off the publicly held, Los Angeles-based company. All of the refinancing was closed with less than 50% leverage.

Source: SEC Filing