Synopsis
TriVersity Construction bakes its purpose and values into the healthcare and community projects it completes. But when it came time to expand with a new corporate headquarters, investing in a transitional neighborhood brought unique challenges—and opportunities.
Be flexible and explore creative deal options.
When TriVersity invited Truist to bid on financing the project, Gravely was already committed to the Walnut Hills neighborhood and had a specific property in mind. Hawking and his Truist team quickly realized that a traditional commercial real estate financing structure might not work.
“Most other banks looked at this as an investor real estate project,” Hawking says. “So, they were applying vacancy rates, they were applying stress rates, they were looking at manager costs. They were looking at a lot of different factors that are specific to investor (focused) real estate.
“We looked at this as an owner-occupied project, and we were the only ones to do it. That gave us a lot more latitude on how we underwrote, and how we looked at the cash flow.”
That flexibility in exploring options helped Truist put together the winning package for TriVersity.
“I see the partnerships that continue to build,” Watkins says. “I see the personal touch, not just being an entity. As we try to partner with our customers—that’s part of our mantra—we see that same thing in Truist.”