Sumitomo brokers deal $70 million refinancing for Santa Monica co-op.

Ocean Towers, a luxury cooperative housing development on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica, Calif., has fought back from extensive earthquake damage with $70 million in first mortgage refinancing from NCB Capital Corp., according to Sumitomo Real Estate Sales (N.Y.) and Sumitomo Realty & Development CA, Inc., which brokered the deal.

Steven McCoy, senior advisor at Sumitomo Real. Estate Sales in New York, arranged the complex deal over many months of work.

The 317-unit co-op, which consists of two 19-story towers at 201 Ocean Avenue, was made uninhabitable by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Its reconstruction has been the largest such project in the state of California to date.

The 10-year, $70 million loan from NCB, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Cooperative Bank of Washington, D.C., refinances an existing first mortgage of approximately $44 million held by GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. and $7.1 million in second mortgage financing held by NCB. Sumitomo, as represented by McCoy, was also the broker on the earlier loans.

The balance of the loan proceeds are being used to pay for large-scale repairs and a state-of-the-art seismic retrofit, as well as overall cosmetic and other project upgrades. Most of the work has been substantially completed, and shareholders have been moving back into their apartments.

"We are very gratified that we've been able to arrange this financing," says Makoto Okuyama, president of Sumitomo Real Estate Sales (N.Y.). "It is a testament to the patience, experience and skill of Steven McCoy, who has previously demonstrated his ability to do long-distance transactions in the sales of important office buildings in London and Washington."

"It's taken a lot of time and effort, but the result makes it all worthwhile," said McCoy. "We are very pleased to have been able to arrange a financial solution for the Ocean Towers shareholder community. Reportedly, this is the largest loan of this type NCB has made. Ocean Towers, with its spectacular setting, will flourish once again."

Ocean Towers Housing Corporation, the borrower, was represented by Joseph Orlando, president, and the board of directors. The lender was represented by Joseph Sturiale, managing director of National Cooperative Bank.

"This is not the first time we've sought financing," noted Orlando. "We've done it three times, and each time Steve McCoy has been integral to the effort to help Ocean Towers when we needed it. Now, we're able to make this a glorious place to live once again."