Below you will find the January 2019 edition of the Essex Financial Group Newsletter. Please use full screen mode for best results. 

Coal Mine Retail Center is a 122,446 sf grocery-anchored retail center located in Littleton, CO. The property was most recently renovated in 1988 and major tenants include King Soopers, ACE Hardware, Goodwill, and US Bank. Prompted by a recent lease extension by the grocery store tenant at a higher rental rate, the Borrower wanted to re-finance the current debt on the property to lock in a competitive interest rate for a longer term. The prior debt on the property matured in 2023, therefore, the refinance triggered a prepayment penalty. In addition to sourcing quotes from both life insurance companies and CMBS lenders, Essex was able to strategize with the existing...

DENVER – Essex Financial Group (Essex) is proud to announce its involvement in the $17.5 million financing for Stanley Marketplace, a 105,000 square foot marketplace concept located in the heart of Denver’s affluent Stapleton neighborhood.  Essex worked on behalf of the borrower, Westfield, to secure a fixed-rate, life insurance company loan to refinance its existing construction debt.  Westfield is one of the preeminent full-service real estate firms in Denver, offering expertise and innovation in investment, development and management.         Originally a manufacturing facility for Stanley Aviation, Stanley Marketpl...

Essex Financial Group, which will close an estimated $750 million in commercial real estate loans this year, is changing the guard. J. Jeffrey Riggs, who founded the firm 26 years ago, is passing the baton to Cooper Williams, who has spent his entire professional career at Essex.“We are proud to announce that Cooper Williams, effective Nov. 1, is going to be the president of Essex Financial Group,” Riggs said from the company’s headquarters on the seventh floor of 1401 17th St. in downtown Denver earlier this week.Riggs, however, is not leaving or retiring from the company he founded, which originally was called Western Mortgage.“I’m a long way from retiring,” t...

Essex Financial Group, which will close an estimated $750 million in commercial real estate loans this year, is changing the guard. J. Jeffrey Riggs, who founded the firm 26 years ago, is passing the baton to Cooper Williams, who has spent his entire professional career at Essex.“We are proud to announce that Cooper Williams, effective Nov. 1, is going to be the president of Essex Financial Group,” Riggs said from the company’s headquarters on the seventh floor of 1401 17th St. in downtown Denver earlier this week.Riggs, however, is not leaving or retiring from the company he founded, which originally was called Western Mortgage.“I’m a long way from retiring,” t...

Essex Financial Group is the #1 originator of life insurance company debt in Colorado.  Below is a sampling of recent life insurance company loans that were originated and closed by Cooper Williams in June 2018. Arvada HGI - $16,800,000The Arvada Hilton Garden Inn (Arvada HGI) is a newly-constructed, 139-room limited-service hotel located in Arvada, CO.  Arvada HGI opened in March 2017 and has seen tremendous success, catering to both business travelers and tourists.  The limited-service hotel is located only a few blocks from Old Town Arvada and the Arvada Gold Line, which will provide light rail service to downtown Denver by 2018.   Esse...

Life insurance companies continue to show a strong appetite for commercial mortgages as a piece of their investment allocation. In 2017, life insurance companies originated over $61 billion of commercial mortgage debt, and feedback from our correspondent life insurance company lenders indicates that this appetite will continue through 2018. However, there is a trend toward more conservative, lower-risk loans as we move into the latter stages of the current economic cycle. For life insurance companies, that means two things: first, a focus on low-leverage transactions (sub-65 percent loan to value); and second, an increase in their asset allocations toward multifamily propertie...

Essex Financial Group – Real Estate Analyst Job Description  Company Description:Essex Financial Group ("Essex") is the largest independently-owned commercial mortgage banking firm in Colorado.  Essex specializes in commercial real estate debt and equity placement.  For over 30 years, Essex has helped its clients navigate the capital markets efficiently to identify the best capital source and structure to meet their financing needs and objectives.As a loan correspondent for 25 life insurance companies, including several on an exclusive basis, Essex is able to access non-recourse, low-interest rate capital that nobody else can provide.  While founded a...

The start of a new year provides us with a chance to reflect on the past twelve months and identify a few key insights into the capital markets that our Borrowers can hopefully take advantage of heading into 2018.  Perhaps the most dramatic change in the debt markets in 2017 was the flattening of the yield curve, brought on by the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise its target for the short term federal funds interest rate on three separate occasions in March, June, and December. The federal funds rate is the interest rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans, and as a result, has a more direct impact on short-term interest rates. The chart above shows...

The first half of 2017 has seen tremendous lending activity from our correspondent life insurance companies, as several are ahead of plan for their 2017 loan allocations.  Essex has recently observed that life companies have been particularly competitive lending on multifamily properties, especially in the past few months.   The multifamily lending space is typically the domain of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, but recently, Essex has observed several life companies outperforming the two agencies, both in terms of loan proceeds and interest rate.  Two multifamily deals that Essex has worked on in the past two months have stood out in particular.  O...