Deal at a Glance
| Loan Amount | $2,900,000 |
| Property | Leased industrial warehouse / office building (two commercial tenants) |
| Location | Long Beach, California |
| Transaction | Refinance |
| Lender Type | Local community bank |
| Rate | 5.50% fixed (365/360 basis) |
| Term / Amortization | 5 years / 25-year amortization, months 1-18 interest only |
| Sizing | Lesser of $2.9M, 55% of as-is value, or 1.45x DSCR at note rate on a 20-year schedule |
| Prepayment | 3-2-0 (open after year two) |
| Fee | 0.5% ($14,500) |
| Recourse | Full guaranty (principal and family trust) |
| Closed | Q2 2026 |
The Deal That Walked in the Door
We are Commercial Lending Solutions, a commercial mortgage brokerage based in Los Angeles, California (CA), and this client was practically a neighbor: a longtime Long Beach property owner, a family trust that had held the building for years, refinancing an industrial warehouse and office property leased to two established commercial tenants, an engineering firm and a specialty manufacturer. The asset was a classic Long Beach infill industrial story: functional building, land-constrained submarket twenty minutes from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, tenants who had been in place for years. The eventual takeout came from a local community bank.
Commercial Lending Solutions specializes in industrial refinancing and community bank placements for owners across Los Angeles County and Long Beach, and this deal was a direct fit.
The goal was straightforward, replace the maturing debt with the sharpest fixed rate available and keep monthly payments as light as possible. Straightforward goals still deserve a real process. We built a formal side-by-side comparison across the lender field in mid-2025, kept it live as quotes were refreshed, and the spreads that emerged were meaningful, in rate, in structure, and above all in how each lender treated the one soft spot in the deal: both tenant leases rolled during the proposed loan term.
What Made It Hard
- Lease rollover inside the loan term. Both tenants' leases expired before the 5-year maturity. Many lenders respond to rollover by cutting proceeds or shortening the term.
- Payment sensitivity. The owner wanted the low fixed rate of a bank loan but also wanted early-years cash flow closer to what an interest-only structure provides.
- Rate environment. With most banks quoting 6%+ for industrial refis, getting into the 5s required a lender that knew the submarket and wanted the relationship.
How We Ran the Process
Trevor Damyan, a California-licensed real estate broker (DRE #02244836), ran the finalists down to a community bank headquartered in the property's own city, an institution that has been lending on Long Beach real estate for over a century, against a New York-headquartered bank's term sheet. The out-of-market bank quoted wider and treated the lease rollover as a proceeds problem. The hometown bank treated it as a covenant problem, which is a much cheaper place to solve it. Their proposal, first issued in late March 2026 and executed in revised form on April 7, won on every axis that mattered:
- $2,900,000 at 5.50% fixed for the full 5-year term, with a 0.5% loan fee ($14,500)
- 18 months of interest-only payments, then principal and interest of roughly $17,950 per month on a 25-year amortization
- Conservative sizing at the lesser of 55% of appraised value or a 1.45x debt service coverage test, the trade that buys a 5-handle rate
- 3-2-0 prepayment, completely open after year two, preserving a sale or refinance exit for most of the term
- Rollover handled with a reserve covenant, not a proceeds cut: if either tenant's lease is not renewed by three months before expiration, the borrower funds a reserve account equal to six months of that tenant's rent, released once a renewal or replacement lease is signed. Full proceeds at closing, protection for the bank only if the risk actually materializes.
- Relationship banking: the borrower moved the property's operating accounts to the bank, standard for community bank pricing at this level
The loan closed in Q2 2026, secured by a first deed of trust on the property.
"The lease rollover was the whole negotiation. Instead of letting a lender cut proceeds for a risk that had not happened yet, we structured a reserve that only comes into play if a tenant actually walks."
Why We Won This One
The lease-rollover reserve is the detail worth stealing. When a lender sees tenant expirations inside the loan term, the lazy answers are lower proceeds, a shorter term, or a higher rate, all of which make the borrower pay today for a risk that may never show up. A springing reserve flips that: the borrower keeps full proceeds and the sharp rate, and only posts collateral if a lease actually goes unrenewed. If your lender responds to rollover risk by cutting your loan, ask about a reserve structure instead, or find a lender who will.
The other lesson is that community banks beat money-center pricing on their home turf. A bank that has financed buildings on the same streets for decades does not need a risk premium to get comfortable with Long Beach infill industrial. The out-of-market competitor quoted the same deal wider.
Is This Structure Right for Your Deal?
If you own leased industrial or commercial property with a maturing loan, especially with lease expirations that are making other lenders skittish, we can run the field and structure around the rollover. We arrange permanent loans and industrial financing from a network of more than 1,000 capital sources, including the community banks that price their own backyards best.
Apply for refinancing or call us at 310.708.0690 to talk through your property.
This is one of 32 closings we have arranged in Los Angeles County. Read about how we work as a Los Angeles commercial mortgage broker, see our Los Angeles commercial mortgage loans, or browse all 46 California closed deals.