Capital markets resource Northmarq has secured a $25.3-million loan for the construction of a bourbon barrel storage facility to be built on a 107-acre site located in Shelbyville, KY.

Randall Waddell of Northmarq arranged the financing through a KY-based banking institution on behalf of a distilled spirits consulting firm that brokers bulk whiskey barrels and a design/construction firm that has developed a storage system. The fixed-rate construction/mini-perm loan is structured with a five-year term consisting of three years of interest-only payments amortizing over a 25-year schedule thereafter.

The loan is for the first of two phases of development and will consist of three rickhouses and one blending/bottling building. Seven rickhouses, each of which will hold 19,800 barrels along with the blending/bottling building will exist upon completion of the development. The project is thought to be the first speculative barrel storage facility of scale in KY where a severe shortage of quality facilities exists to meet the demands of record levels of new bourbon production.