TORONTO — Canada ICI Capital Corporation recently arranged a $288-million construction loan for MOD Developments Inc.’s 48-storey, 541-suite condominium project in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood despite the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The construction loan was led by a major Canadian life insurance company and includes a syndicate of five institutional lenders.
“The loan had been in the works since late 2019; however, nothing was binding prior to the pandemic hitting in early March,” said Canada ICI director of mortgage origination Jonah Brown, who arranged and led the transaction with colleague Aaron Sun from its Toronto office.
“As such, the loan was committed, signed and funded during the first month of the government-mandated lockdown.”
Canada ICI is a commercial real estate finance firm, funding in excess of $4.5 billion annually in commercial mortgages through offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
In a blog on the RENX.ca website, Brown said the number of lenders in the market diminished and those that remained active reduced their appetite for risk and the maximum size of their loans.
Canada ICI successfully pushed each lender involved in the deal to take on its maximum allowable loan.
While the way Canada ICI does business has changed to adapt to the unprecedented circumstances, business hasn’t slowed, the website states.
Dale Klein, Canada ICI’s founder, president and CEO said the mortgage origination teams in each of its five offices have been extremely busy and the pipeline of active opportunities has remained consistent with pre-COVID-19 levels.
“Although the pandemic has temporarily changed the way that we’ve worked, and has presented a different set of risks and challenges, our strategy hasn’t changed for either our origination team or asset management team who are still focused on relationships, communication and transparency in our approach with all of the organization’s stakeholders,” said Klein.
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