Lionheart Strategic Management LLC, an affiliate of Fisher Brothers, has arranged a $50 million senior loan for Modelo, a 13.8-acre master-planned mixed-use site in the City of Commerce in Los Angeles County. The project is sponsored by Comstock Realty Partners, a locally based firm focused on the redevelopment of the site into a large-scale residential and retail community.
The senior financing for Modelo is being provided by Schroders Capital. According to the parties, proceeds are earmarked for several early-stage components of the plan. The capital will fund environmental remediation across the entire 13.8-acre site, a prerequisite to moving forward with the broader buildout, and will also cover horizontal infrastructure work on a 3.0-acre parcel within the master plan that is entitled for 60 townhomes.
The loan will additionally support soft costs tied to the overall master-planned vision for Modelo. Those costs include planning and other non-hard cost items associated with advancing the multi-phase development. The entitlements in place for the site allow for a mixed-use program that includes 740 multifamily units, 45 condominium units and 65 townhomes, along with 179,501 square feet of retail space.
In total, the current entitlements position Modelo to deliver 850 residential units across multifamily, condominium and townhome formats, supported by a substantial retail component. The combination of housing types and nearly 180,000 square feet of retail space is intended to anchor a master-planned environment within the City of Commerce, though construction timing and phasing details were not disclosed in connection with the financing announcement.
Andy Klein, managing director and co-head of investments at Lionheart Strategic Management, noted that the structure of the loan was tailored to the project's specific needs. He pointed to the site's remediation requirements, the phased development profile and the mix of use types as key considerations in designing the capital solution in coordination with Schroders Capital and the project sponsor.
The Modelo transaction underscores ongoing lender appetite for entitled, master-planned mixed-use projects in supply-constrained coastal markets, particularly where sponsors can demonstrate a clear path through remediation and predevelopment. While additional information on loan terms and development timelines was not provided, the closing of this senior facility marks a notable step in advancing the entitlements into actionable site work at the City of Commerce property.
