Apartment Rating Makeover

Standard & Poor’s upgraded Lake Grace Apartments’ rating to investment-grade level last week, noting that in fiscal 2008 the project maintained stable debt service coverage levels of 1.28 times on its senior-lien debt and 1.13 times on its junior-lien debt.

The agency raised the credit to BBB from BB-plus on the apartment complex’s 1997 bonds issued through the Carver County Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which has owned the property since 1993.

“The upgrade reflects the property’s ability to continue to service its debt at the current rating level,” Standard & Poor’s analyst Mikiyon Alexander said in a release.

The project’s credit also benefits from a decrease in expenses leading to an improvement in the expense ratio, and a debt service reserve fund funded at more than 12 months’ maximum annual debt service.

Lake Grace Apartments is located in Chaska, about 26 miles southwest of Minneapolis. It includes 91 units, with 19 built in 1993 and 72 built in 1971.

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