Miller & Rhodes mixed-use project gets a $33.5 million refinance

Walker & Dunlop Inc. said Thursday that it arranged $33.5 million in permanent debt for the refinance of a mixed-use project adapted from the rehabilitation of the historic Miller & Rhoads department store in downtown Richmond.

The development, located close to the Greater Richmond Convention Center, has 133 residential units, a 250-room Hilton Garden Inn and more than 20,000 square feet of retail space.

Andrew Coleman, a senior vice president with Walker and Dunlop in Bethesda, Md., and New Orleans-based managing director Stephen Farnsworth led the team that structured the seven-year, fixed-rate loan for HRI Properties LLC. HRI, based in New Orleans, is a real estate development company.

According to Walker & Dunlop, HRI plans to complete an $8.8 million plan by the end of 2015 to convert the hotel to a full-service Hilton to gain meeting space, attract more large-scale events and compete with other local full-service hotel flags.

Originally built between 1888 and 1909 as a one-room store, Miller & Rhoads subsequently expanded to an eight-story building on an entire city block. With many of its original architectural features preserved, the development is considered a significant historic structure in the Grace Street Commercial Historic District.

“Millers & Rhoads is a unique development that deserved a tailored loan structure. After learning about the property and HRI Properties’ business goals, we were able to structure a refinance loan through a long-standing relationship that met the needs of the property and the borrower,” Coleman said in a statement. “… Every element of this development is special, and we are proud to have arranged financing for such a historically significant project.”