BGL Real Estate Advisors Completes the Development Financing for the Office Building at Valor Acres

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the financial closing of the new, five-story Class A office building at the Valor Acres mixed-use development in Brecksville, Ohio. Civista Bank & Westfield Bank provided development financing. BGL's Real Estate Advisors team served as the exclusive financial advisor to the DiGeronimo Companies in this transaction.

The DiGeronimo Companies pre-leased approximately 50% of the building to an institutional tenant prior to completion, highlighting early leasing momentum and tenant demand within the Valor Acres development.

Valor Acres is a premier mixed-use development that resides in the heart of Northeast Ohio capable of accommodating a corporate campus, mixed-use residential, hospitality, and retail. Valor Acres is on the former site of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Brecksville Hospital and conveniently located off I-77 in Brecksville, Ohio providing a new development opportunity between Cleveland and Akron.

Valor Acres is home to the newly opened 600,000 square-foot Sherwin-Williams Research and Development facility that brings chemists, engineers, technicians and support teams together into a state-of-the-art hub for innovation and development of future products and services. The DiGeronimo Companies have also relocated their corporate headquarters to Valor Acres.

This closing announcement of the office building concludes BGL's involvement in capital structuring for the existing phases at Valor Acres that have spanned over six years across various phases. DiGeronimo Companies closed on Phase I of Valor Acres in December 2021, which included the development of a multi-family building as well as for rent townhomes, totaling 168 units. In addition, they closed on Phase II, which included 25 for-sale homes, a memorial park, and clubhouse in June 2023.

Lastly, in December of 2024, the DiGeronimo Companies closed on the mixed-use phase of Valor Acres, which included 221 luxury apartment units with best-in-class amenities, 70,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, an onsite safety station, a 700-space parking garage, and The Post, an open-air bar concept with indoor and covered areas that can accommodate 100+ guests, as well as an outdoor area designed to host approximately 500 guests, making it an ideal venue for both casual gatherings and larger events.

BGL's Real Estate Advisors team served as the exclusive financial advisor on the capital structuring for the afore mentioned phases, which included development financing from Huntington National Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First Commonwealth Bank, Civista Bank, and Westfield Bank. In addition to bank financing, there were various forms of public financing, as well as an equity raise that included The OHIO Fund, family office investors, and high net worth investors.

BGL's Real Estate Advisors Group offers comprehensive real estate investment banking services tailored to the middle market. It provides client-focused solutions with an emphasis on real estate advisory, debt, preferred and private equity placement, financial restructuring, recapitalizations, sale-leasebacks, structured finance, and asset acquisitions and dispositions across all asset classes. The team assists real estate owners and developers looking to form alliances and joint ventures with single-source capital providers to gain local and institutional access for all capital needs.