1st Service Solutions Facilitates Ownership Transfer of $1.2B
1st Service Solutions Facilitates Ownership Transfer of $1.2B in CMBS Loans
Commercial Observer | Finance Weekly
1st Service Solutions assisted Westwood Financial Corp. in the transfer of a $1.2 billion portfolio of commercial mortgage-backed securities loans. The transfer was necessary as Westwood consolidated ownership of the portfolio under one real estate holding and operating company.
The portfolio comprised 76 shopping cen- ter properties and was split across 21 di er- ent pools, three master servicers and ve special servicers. Borrower advocate 1st Service Solutions’ role was to both facilitate and expedite approvals for all servicers, and the process was complete within 90 days, closing last month. “I created this firm in 2005 to do exactly what we did on this Westwood Financial trans- action,” Ann Hambly, the chief executive officer of 1st Service Solutions, told Commercial Observer Finance. “We are in our 11th year of expediting CMBS assumptions and have it down to a science. There is no way this transaction would have gotten done in this period of time without our involvement.”
Stephanie Miles, an asset manager, led the project for 1st Service Solutions. “This was a highly complicated transaction with multiple servicers and pools and required everyone’s contribution and complete focus to get this large of a transaction closed within 90 days—the borrowers, servicers, law firms and others,” Miles said. “It was an honor to work with the dedicated team at Westwood Financial.”
Los Angeles-based owner and operator Westwood Financial has been actively acquiring anchored retail properties for 40 years. “This $1.2 billion transaction would not have happened without 1st Service Solutions,” said Joe Dykstra, a co-CEO at Westwood, in prepared remarks.