A Berkadia team secured a $65.7 million loan for the purchase of an apartment community in Orlando, a challenging deal because the property still wasn't fully rented.

Berkadia is a real estate firm that's a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corp. Senior managing director Charles Foschini, managing director Christopher Apone and senior real estate analyst Lourdes Carranza-Alvarez, all based in Miami, secured the loan for Harbor Group International LLC, a Norfolk, Virginia-based real estate investment and management firm, from Bank of America.

Harbor Group International bought Linden Audubon Park, 990 Warehouse Road, from Crp-Grep Elan Audubon Owner LLC in mid-November for $97.1 million, according to the Orange County property appraiser's office.

Crp-Grep Elan Audubon Owner LLC is affiliated with The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity asset manager and investment company, state records show.

Linden Audubon Park is on 19 acres, and it has 449 units in 12 buildings and 597 parking spots.

That means the sale price breaks down to $216,258 per unit.

The loan, which closed Nov. 14, funded 67.7 percent of the purchase, and Harbor Group International equity paid for the rest.

“Harbor Group is an extremely well-funded and an extremely smart investor that buys multifamily,” Foschini said. “[Their] strategy is to buy properties in lease-up and benefit from their own management expertise in stabilizing the deal. That's the opportunity.”

But there also was a challenge to the deal, he added.

The apartments were recently completed and still in lease-up, meaning the property wasn't stabilized, as likely some concessions given to attract tenants remained.

“The challenge was the property in lease-up doesn't yet have stabilized income to justify the type of loan that most buyers would demand. … A stabilized property is a property that is fully leased where all the concessions have burned off, and its income reflects that of a stable property. A property in lease-up is not yet stable because many times tenants are provided incentives to move in,” Foschini said.

At the time the apartments had an occupancy in the mid-80 percent, less than the 95 percent threshold, he added.

“The challenge was finding a lender that knew and trusted Harbor Groups' strategy and shared the same expectation for the future value of the property,” he said.

Berkadia and Harbor Group International overcame this challenge in part thanks to the vibrant market, both residential and commercial, Foschini said.

“The job growth in Florida generally and in the Orlando market specifically has been very strong and as a result lenders believe in the future of the asset,” he said

Linden Audubon Park offers one, two and three-bedroom apartments and townhomes with garages.

One-bedroom apartments range from 646 square feet to 1,012 square feet, and the rents range from $1,320 to $1,960, according to the Linden Audubon Park website. Two-bedroom apartments range from 1,101 square feet to 1,324 square feet, and the rents range from $1,585 to $2,395, and three-bedroom apartments range from 1,285 square feet to 1,781 square feet, and the rents range from $1,925 to $2,945, according to the website.

Apartment kitchens have quartz countertops and energy efficient appliances, bathrooms with faux-wood floors, and 9- to 10-foot ceilings, according to the website.

Some of the community amenities are two pools, a gym, grills, a dog park — as tenants are allowed to have pets — and additional storage space and garages.