Walker & Dunlop HUD Team Finances Over $135 Million for Six Rhode Island Properties in Six Months

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 9, 2024--

Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced today that it arranged $135,323,400 in HUD loans for six multifamily properties in Rhode Island between October 2023 and February 2024. The team worked alongside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to complete the financing. They utilized HUD's FHA Section 223(f) program, allowing the client to secure six fully amortizing long-term loans as well as the option to cash out equity at a 1.111x debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) for necessary repairs.

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The Walker & Dunlop HUD Financing team, led by Chris Rumul, served as exclusive advisors to the client, Carpionato Group, and successfully arranged all six loans. Led by Kelly MacArthur Coates, Carpionato Group is a prominent New England real estate development company with over 50 years of private ownership. The company specializes in integrated real estate services and has a diverse portfolio with a $1.5 billion development project pipeline totaling over six million square feet of real estate assets. Carpionato Group is a longtime HUD client of Walker & Dunlop, with six HUD-insured loans currently in the company’s servicing portfolio.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with our valued partners at Carpionato Group once again," said Chris Rumul, senior managing director of FHA Finance at Walker & Dunlop. "This partnership is helping to fill a crucial housing accessibility gap. We are now able to sustain affordability across these six assets, ensuring long-term affordability for the next several decades and delivering over 1,000 affordable units to residents in need.”

The properties, Riverbend, Sparrows Point I, II, and III, Scituate Vista, and Meshanticut Vista, will benefit from immediate and short-term repairs and additional funds to help further support the client's affordable housing efforts.

"Collaborating with Walker & Dunlop is consistently advantageous. Their expertise and connections proved to be the biggest factors that facilitated the success of this transaction," said Kelly Mac Arthur Coates of Carpionato Group. "Completing six property refinances in just six months is a remarkable achievement, and we take great pride in contributing to the growth of these burgeoning communities in Rhode Island."

“Partnering with Walker & Dunlop and Carpionato Group on this endeavor exemplifies the impact of collaborative expertise in shaping a brighter future for affordable housing in Rhode Island,” said Francis Spinella, president of FJS Associates, Ltd, which was the lead refinancing consultant on all six assets. “Our team is looking forward to seeing the positive impact these communities will have on the region for years to come.”

Walker & Dunlop was recently ranked the #5 HUD lender based on both MAP (Multifamily Accelerated Processing) and LEAN volume for 2023. In 2023 alone, the firm originated nearly $679 million of HUD transactions. To learn more about our capabilities and financing options, visit our website.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) is one of the largest commercial real estate finance and advisory services firms in the United States. Our ideas and capital create communities where people live, work, shop, and play. The diversity of our people, breadth of our brand and technological capabilities make us one of the most insightful and client-focused firms in the commercial real estate industry.

Sparrows Point II Building (Photo: Business Wire)

Scituate Vista Building (Photo: Business Wire)

GENEVA (AP) — Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said Thursday they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the show next week in Sweden.

The announcement came amid heightened tensions surrounding Israel’s participation in the annual music competition over its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Pro-Palestinian groups are expected to stage large protests in Malmo to raise awareness of their cause.

Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the show each year, said ticket holders are only allowed to bring and display flags representing countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored flag.

The Geneva-based EBU reserves the right “to remove any other flags or symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalizing the TV shows,” she told The Associated Press in a text message.

Swedish news agency TT reported that the anyone who tries to bring a Palestinian flag or a sign with a political message will be stopped at the entrance by guards.

Martin Österdahl, the contest's executive supervisor, told TT that “these rules are the same as last year. There is no change.”

National flags are a common sight during the contest as fans cheer on their country’s acts and those they support.

The glitzy gala, which draws hundreds of millions of viewers each year, is held this year from May 7-11 in Malmo in southern Sweden, following last year's victory by Loreen for its performance of “Tattoo” last year.

Winners earn the right for their country to host the following year's event: Sweden is set to host for a record-equalling 7th time.

Swedish police have warned that security will be tight, citing a threat of terrorism in the wealthy Nordic country.

Pro-Palestinian activists who want Israel — a former winner — out of the Eurovision Song Contest have announced large rallies in downtown Malmo, several kilometers (miles) from the Malmo Arena contest venue.

Israel’s national security council on Thursday issued a warning urging people to reconsider travel to Malmo, saying it is “a focus for anti-Israel protests” that include calls to attack Israelis and the burning of Israeli flags.

“These developments raise the tangible concern that terrorists will exploit the protest and the anti-Israel atmosphere to carry out an attack on Israelis who will arrive for the Eurovision,” it said.

On Thursday, Swedish police said they granted permission to demonstrators planning to burn a copy of the Quran in Malmo before the contest. Such rallies are allowed in Sweden, and police need to cite specific grounds, such as risks to public safety, if they want to reject a permit for a demonstration or public gathering.

Last year, Sweden raised its terror threat level last year following a series of burnings of the Quran that triggered protests in the Muslim world.

In recent weeks, spillover reaction around the world to the nearly 7-month war between Israel and Hamas has fanned large protests on U.S. university campuses and beyond.

Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark. Joe Federman contributed from Jerusalem

FILE - The completed Eurovision stage at Malmo Arena is shown at a press conference in Malmo, Sweden, on April 25, 2024. Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest say they’re willing to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the event next week in Sweden. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP, File)