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Economic uncertainty is changing lending practices, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t financing available for commercial real estate in Los Angeles.

The trick, though, is finding that financing and getting the right terms.

“Whatever underwriting people were using in January and February has clearly changed now,” said Kevin Shannon, co-head of capital markets at Newmark Knight Frank. “The loan terms — they are getting so dramatically different from what they were.”

While some lenders are “afraid to make bad loans,” Shannon added,

Latigo Group has locked in $59 million in construction financing for a 152,000-square-foot multifamily development in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, according to Dekel Capital, which arranged and announced the funding.

Dekel said the financing was provided by a publicly traded real estate investment trust and a life insurance company.

Latigo has started work on the project at 299 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard, which will be the first significant multifamily project in Thousand Oaks since 2007.

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles-based Dekel Capital, on behalf of Los Angeles-based CGI Strategies, has secured $47.8 million in non-recourse construction financing for the development of a multifamily community located at 837 S. Fedora St. in Los Angeles.

Provided by a national lender, the loan will be used for the construction of a seven-story concrete and wood building over two levels of subterranean parking in the Koreatown neighborhood.

The global spread of the coronavirus is the unexpected event the U.S. commercial real estate industry feared would halt the country’s longest period of economic expansion. But when rent or mortgages come due, lenders are expected to exercise some level of flexibility to soften the blow. Wikimedia/Sparkx 11

While these are still early days in what some economists are already calling a recession, banks are expected to take a different tone in this downturn compared to the last.

In the last few days, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on the stock and financial markets, but the virus hasn’t knocked them out yet. For construction deals specifically, lenders remain “open for business,” according to Shlomi Ronen of Dekel Capital.

“Things are slower and people are figuring things out,” Ronen, a principal at Dekel Capital, tells GlobeSt.com. “Lenders remain open for business. Some debt funds have communicated that they are on the sidelines.

A 74,000-square-foot mixed-use creative office building near Culver City has received $59.3 million in construction financing.

The developers of the project, located at 5950 Jefferson Blvd., are Sawtelle-based Urban Offerings Inc. and Meridian Group Ltd.

Dekel Capital Inc. arranged the financing.

The loan, which was provided by an unnamed institutional fund manager, will be used to demolish an existing building and replace it with a four-story creative office building with ground-level retail.