A Miami-based private lender that focuses on real estate investments secured a $15 million credit facility before the coronavirus shattered the service economy and most lending.

LV Lending LLC, which has a servicing portfolio of over $200 million, secured the credit facility with help from Aztec Group Inc., a Miami-based real estate investor and merchant bank.

Aztec Group executive vice president Charles Penan, senior managing director Howard Taft and director Brell Tarich in Miami arranged the credit facility, which closed Feb. 5 when the virus was a phenomenon in Wuhan, China. In the U.S., major event cancellations and business closures started in the second week on March.

The name of the lender wasn't provided with LV Lending, saying only that it was a bank.

The credit facility, which can be drawn down over time as needed, will allow LV Lending to grow its lending "to serve the growing need for alternative financing that the region's real estate market is experiencing," Aztec's Penan said in a news release.

Managed by Ricardo Uribe and Camilo Nino, LV Lending in recent years issued loans for notable South Florida projects, including $4.6 million  for Estate Investments Group's two-building Soleste Alameda multifamily project in West Miami and a $10 million bridge loan for the Shops at Landmark retail development in Doral.

LV Lending has overseen more than $350 million in loans in Florida and Georgia in 450 transactions. It's affiliated with alternative investor Linkvest Capital Group, real estate manager and investor Linkvest Properties and a real estate developer that partners with developer LV Development.