Steve Rogovich is a senior loan officer at Englewood-based Kennedy Funding
By Joshua Burd
A cold storage project in Washington State is moving ahead with the help of a new $3 million loan from Kennedy Funding, the New Jersey-based direct private lender announced.
According to a news release, the deal will allow the borrower to pay off debt on the 188,200-square-foot facility that’s currently under construction in Lynden, a small semirural town close to the Canadian border. The developer has already completed site infrastructure and poured the foundation, but Kennedy Funding said the project was complicated by partnership issues and a mechanic’s lien against the property.
The firm also cited issues that were not specific to the project.
“The borrower is from China, and traditional lenders automatically consider foreign nationals to be higher risk and too logistically difficult to service,” said Steve Rogovich, a senior loan officer at Englewood-based Kennedy Funding. “This deal was also a land loan, which by itself is a non-starter for banks. Combine these two challenges with the lien and partnership issues, and it was clear why other lenders regarded this as an untouchable opportunity.”
The lender noted that the property is an 18.47-acre industrial site comprised of three separate parcels at 675 Redwood Road, which the developer acquired for $4.8 million. It is about eight miles east of Interstate 5 and 15 miles north of downtown Bellingham, the county seat and the largest city in Whatcom County.
“Nobody except Kennedy Funding could do this loan,” said Greg Satterfield, partner with Crux Commercial Partners and the broker on the deal. “Their timing was perfect, and the team was very accommodating by granting extensions and raising the LTV from the initial appraisal reports. That helped us get across the finish line.”
Kennedy Funding CEO Kevin Wolfer added: “Over more than 30 years in business, Kennedy Funding has built an international reputation for embracing the most difficult deals. Brokers and potential borrowers from all over the world know our track record, and most importantly, know to call us when it feels like the task is impossible to meet.”
The cold storage project comes amid Lynden’s efforts to grow by leveraging its history as an agricultural town, Kennedy Funding said. The firm pointed to the community’s investment in agricultural resources, research and services, as well as land preservation for agricultural purposes, complementing the area’s active dairy farming, berry farming and row crop cultivation operations.
“Agricultural businesses will be well serviced by a cold storage facility,” Rogovich said. “Alliance USA is coming in at the right place, at the right time, to capitalize on the region’s ongoing growth.”
