Northland, which recently put up for sale two downtown Hartford office buildings, has also refinanced the debt on its most prized city asset: the Hartford 21 luxury apartment tower, land records show.
The company in April took out a 10-year, $65.2 million mortgage that will mature on May 1, 2032, land records show.
The loan was facilitated by CBRE Capital Markets Inc. and financed by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., the government-sponsored housing lender better known as Freddie Mac. It was not immediately clear how much debt Northland had remaining on its previous loan.
This isn’t the first time Northland refinanced its debt on the 260-unit apartment property. In 2012, it secured a $75 million mortgage from UBS Real Estate Securities to refinance about $70.3 million of remaining debt at the time. That loan was later packaged and sold to investors as part of a larger mortgage-backed security.
Hartford 21 is Northland’s most valuable remaining asset downtown. The company developed the $162 million project from the ground up in 2006, with the help of state funding. Citizens Bank provided the original $80 million mortgage on the property.
Northland has had problems filling the retail section of Hartford 21. Its current tenant includes TD Bank.
The refinancing is the latest in a series of recent moves Northland has been making on its downtown holdings. Over the past month it has put up for sale two of its last remaining office buildings in the city: the 304,413-square-foot mid-rise office/retail complex at 242 Trumbull St. and the smaller 24,000-square-foot Crosthwaite Building at 100 Allyn St.
In a statement about its recent listings, Northland said it “has been an active investor, operator and developer in Hartford for more than 20 years. At this time, we have decided to sell our commercial properties located at 242 Trumbull Street and 100 Allyn Street as we focus on our core business of owning, operating, and developing multifamily and mixed-used assets. We remain committed to the City of Hartford and continue to invest in Hartford 21.”
Northland was once downtown Hartford’s largest landlord owning many of the city’s Class A office towers, before it lost several buildings to foreclosure in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Even still, Northland has remained a major player in Hartford: in addition to the properties it recently listed for sale and Hartford 21, it also owns the vacant former YMCA property on Jewell Street.
