ACORE Originates $67M for Atlanta Office Buy

Atlanta is certainly living up to its nickname, Hotlanta. Or at least its debt markets are.

ACORE Capital has provided a $66.8 million mortgage for The Ardent Companies’ purchase of the Fountains at Piedmont Center, a four-building office portfolio, sources have told Commercial Observer.

“The borrower is a high-quality local sponsor with a sound business plan for a quality asset in Atlanta’s premier office market,” Tony Fineman, a managing director at ACORE, said through a spokesman.

Meridian Capital Group’s Tal Savariego and Dani Sabesan negotiated the debt, which carries an interest rate just north of Libor plus 400 basis points. The financing from ACORE carries a seven-year term and allows for extension options.

“The Ardent Companies has a strong track record of executing on value-add opportunities and is acquiring the complex at an attractive basis for long-term upside potential,” Savariego said in prepared remarks. “Meridian arranged for competitive balance sheet financing that provides long-term flexibility for prepayment and extension of the loan, as well as a good news facility for future funding as the investment strategy is executed.”

The Ardent Companies paid $76.5 million for the office property, which is located off Piedmont Road in Buckhead, a major commercial and financial part of Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Atlanta-based Cone Middour Partnerswas brought in as a joint venture partner on the transaction, according to the local paper.

The previous owner, Glendale, Calif.-based American Realty Advisors, completed a $30 million capital improvement program on the 550,000-square-foot Class A office complex.

The Atlanta-based private investment and asset management firm, The Ardent Companies, also has a lending platform, where it originates senior and mezzanine loans.