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Last month, Patrick Ciriello took a deep breath and decided to forge ahead. The senior sales manager for commercial mortgage origination at Wachovia Corp. went ahead and refinanced half a billion dollars in mortgages for three commercial buildings in Manhattan.
Mr. Ciriello, who opened a Manhattan office for the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank this April, initially agreed to the deals before Sept. 11. But even after the collapse of the World Trade Center, he remains confident that Manhattan is a good bet.
He is not the only one. Despite the risk of more terrorist attacks to come, a sputtering economy and uncertainty over insurance coverage, financial backers of office buildings have demonstrated their faith in New York's future by proceeding with billions of dollars in new and refinanced mortgage commitments.
"We are out there to lend," says James Mirman, a senior vice president in Fleet's real estate finance group, which is one of the largest construction lenders in the city. "We still see a lot of tremendous opportunities in New York."
While there has been an impressive flow of funds from banks and insurance companies, which are also long-term lenders to the sector, the money is coming with some new strings attached. Lenders say they are now taking longer to conduct due diligence, and they are asking borrowers to put more of their own money into projects. In addition, lenders are eager to spread the risk on big loans by bringing in partners.
"New...