IRVINE, Calif. – June 10, 2020 — Rockefeller Group and joint venture partner MBK Real Estate announced today the partnership has secured a $24.4 million construction loan from Los Angeles-based City National Bank to develop a 297,161 square foot industrial building in Fontana, Calif. The loan includes a floating-rate financing structure with a 24-month term with extension options. The $40 million project, Fontana Santa Ana Industrial Center, is located at 10965 Banana Avenue in Fontana and recently started construction. Completion is expected in January 2021.
“Rockefeller Group and MBK are excited to be working with City National Bank and to advance construction on our Fontana project,” said James V. Camp, Senior Vice President and Regional Development Officer for Rockefeller Group’s West Region. “With this financing, we’re able to potentially enhance project-level returns, while preserving balance-sheet capital to further grow our development pipeline throughout the Inland Empire and Southern California.”
This is Rockefeller Group’s first and MBK Real Estate’s third transaction with City National Bank.
“City National Bank was able to offer us competitive terms and throughout this process has been very relationship oriented,” said Camp. “Their familiarity and experience with the Inland Empire industrial market made them the ideal lender for this project and we look forward to working with them in the future.”
Rockefeller Group was also able to recently secure both grading and building permits from the City of Fontana, which allowed the company to break ground on the project in April despite the current Covid-19 situation.
“Rockefeller Group and MBK would like to thank the City of Fontana for helping us with our permitting during this difficult time,” said Marc Berg, Vice President and Regional Director for Rockefeller Group’s West Region. “The city’s diligence in processing the permits and their ability to conduct business electronically was key to us moving forward on the Fontana Santa Ana project.”
“Both Rockefeller and City National Bank did a phenomenal job of shepherding the loan process through a difficult time period. We are very happy with the outcome,” said Vijay Pandurangadu, Vice President, Industrial Properties for MBK Real Estate. “We continue to be strong believers in the Inland Empire.”
“City National is dedicated to serving its clients and is pleased to provide construction financing for the Fontana Santa Ana Industrial Center during this unprecedented time,” said Ilya Voziyan, Senior Vice President and Senior Real Estate Banking Relationship Manager at City National Bank. “We look forward to building a long-term relationship with Rockefeller Group and MBK Real Estate and supporting their future development plans.”
Rockefeller Group acquired the land for Fontana Santa Ana for $15.7 million as an assemblage of eleven separate parcels. Located just off the I-10 Freeway and Cherry Avenue on-off ramp, the Fontana Santa Ana Industrial Center site is situated at the southeast corner of Santa Ana Avenue and Banana Avenue. It will feature 36-foot-clear ceiling heights, approximately 10,000 square feet of speculative office improvements, 164 auto-parking stalls, 185’ truck yard and 59 trailer-parking stalls.
Paul Earnhart, Doug Earnhart, Brian Pharris, and Ryan Earnhart of Lee & Associates – Ontario and Juan Gutierrez of Voit Real Estate Services are jointly marketing the project. Nasser Mustafa of ASG Development Advisors was the land sales broker for the 11 land transactions. The architect for the project is RGA, the civil engineer is Huitt-Zollars and RM Dalton will construct the building.
