$86 Million Freddie Mac Refinance Backs 506 Affordable Apartments in Queens

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An affordable housing portfolio in Queens has secured an $86.4 million Freddie Mac refinancing, replacing acquisition financing on 506 apartments and providing another example of agency capital supporting preservation deals while conventional real estate debt remains expensive.

Walker & Dunlop arranged the $86.443 million loan for Iris Holdings Group’s Flushing Preservation Portfolio, a four-property collection in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens. The financing retires a $75 million acquisition loan issued by National Equity Fund when Iris acquired the properties in 2024.

The portfolio includes four elevator buildings totaling approximately 481,000 square feet, with studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The properties were built in the early 1960s.

Refinancing replaces acquisition debt

Iris acquired the portfolio in partnership with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development from LeFrak Organization in June 2024. The latest financing shifts the properties from acquisition debt into longer-term agency financing through Freddie Mac.

Walker & Dunlop did not disclose the new loan’s interest rate, amortization, maturity or debt-service coverage in the publicly available announcement reviewed by WRE. Those terms would be necessary to make a meaningful comparison between the old and new capital structures.

The transaction nevertheless matters because affordable and workforce housing owners face the same higher-rate environment affecting the rest of multifamily, while also operating under affordability restrictions that can limit revenue growth.

Agency lending remains an important outlet

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are central sources of liquidity for multifamily housing, particularly when banks and other lenders become more selective. Affordable housing transactions can receive additional attention within the government-sponsored enterprises’ housing missions and regulatory frameworks.

For preservation owners, refinancing can be more than a simple debt replacement. The structure determines how much cash flow remains available for building operations, reserves, capital improvements and affordability commitments.

In this case, the new Freddie Mac loan is roughly $11.4 million larger than the $75 million acquisition loan it replaces. The public announcement does not provide enough detail to conclude how the additional proceeds will be allocated, so WRE is not characterizing the difference as cash-out proceeds or renovation capital.

A preservation story in a high-cost market

The location adds significance. New York remains one of the country’s highest-cost housing markets, where preserving existing regulated or otherwise affordable units can be as important to supply as new construction.

The Flushing portfolio is not new housing. Its significance lies in keeping existing apartments financed under a long-term ownership structure rather than allowing aging properties to become financially stranded as acquisition loans mature.

That distinction is increasingly important for housing professionals watching the multifamily refinancing cycle. The headline risk in commercial real estate is often centered on defaults and maturity walls, but successful refinancings show the other side of the market: assets that can still attract large-scale agency capital when the property, sponsorship and affordability structure fit lender requirements.

The transaction also provides a useful benchmark for lenders and owners evaluating older urban multifamily portfolios. Even in a difficult rate environment, more than $86 million of agency debt was available for a 506-unit preservation portfolio—although the undisclosed pricing and underwriting terms remain essential context that cannot be inferred from the loan amount alone.