BofI Federal Bank, a subsidiary of BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ: BOFI), has closed on a $22.5 million bridge loan with 7 West 44th St. Realty LLC (“Realty”) in connection with Realty’s acquisition of the Paragon Building, a 16 story, 65,000 square foot office building located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.  Realty previously acquired an adjacent site and plans to combine the parcels to develop a five-star boutique hotel and club project on this iconic street.

“BofI Federal Bank has identified an uptick in acquisition and predevelopment activity in the commercial real estate sector.  While various institutions are returning to construction lending, we have identified a need for acquisition and pre-development bridge financing of commercial real estate projects in the pre-construction or re-positioning phase, preceding the availability or suitability for permanent financing” stated Raj Mulchandani, AVP of Commercial and Industrial Lending at BofI Federal Bank.  Mulchandani continued, “We believe our reliable and responsive service enables us to successfully meet the needs of developers with commercial real estate projects in this phase, where we see significant loan demand throughout the US.”

BofI Federal Bank Commercial and Industrial Lending offers sophisticated debt financing solutions to owners and investors involved in commercial real estate projects (including acquisition and pre-development financing solutions), as well as debt financing for owners and investors of single and multifamily residential properties.  Additionally, the BofI provides debt financing solutions (including receivables financings) to small-to-medium size businesses in target sectors such as healthcare and specialty finance.