Gino's Awards.

The first time I met Gino Zavarella Sr. (the Sponsor), he was not sitting in an executive suite marching orders at his large staff of employees.  Rather, he was in the warehouse, sleeves rolled up, working with one of his proprietary machines and crafting something special.  The way Gino went about his business remained consistent over the span of 67 years.  The son of Italian immigrant parents and raised in the tough section of Kinsman, Cleveland, Gino never forgot his roots and stayed humble even after all the success and national recognition in the Awards Industry.  He began learning his craft in the engraving business when he returned from serving in both World War II and the Korean War.  He became instrumental in creating the standard of excellence today through his innovations in both manufacturing and design.  We are saddened by Gino Sr.’s passing on March 9, 2020 but his legacy lives on by Gino Zavarella Jr. and Gino’s grandson Nicholas.   

When I first met Gino Zavarella Jr., an already accomplished federal attorney, he had also learned the ropes of the family business and was already in control of Gino’s Awards.  Gino Sr. was still working but Gino Jr. was managing the day to day including the company’s business and real estate holdings.  We met through a referral and I quickly learned that the greatest threat to the business that his dad built was the difficulty he was having to refinance the full recourse note securing his industrial asset.  Gino’s father was denied financing from all of the local banks he had done business with in the past.  Disheartened by the relationship lenders that had let him down and facing the prospect of having no choice but to refinance with a hard money loan, I procured an offer to refinance Gino Sr.’s asset with a CMBS loan which would save their income producing asset and their multi-generational Awards business.      

Procuring a CMBS loan was not without its challenges in this instance since Gino’s Property was majority owner-occupied and the CMBS product is primarily for investment properties only.  However, having a lot of experience in financing partially owner occupied properties, I was able to come up with creative structure on the loan to mitigate this risk.  In this instance, we created a 15-year lease between Gino’s and the borrowing entity at a rental rate that balanced debt-service coverage requirements for underwriting while providing a comfortable rent payment for Gino’s.  Working closely with our Lender we were able to tailor a loan structure that was saleable in the secondary market which turned out to be a great loan for the Lender and my client.  There was nothing more gratifying than to know that we were able to get the Zavarellas 10 more years of term with a low fixed interest rate.  The best part was knowing that Gino Sr. could sleep comfortably at night knowing his new loan was non-recourse (no personal liability) and his business secure for the next decade.    

To this day, Gino Jr. and I stay in touch regularly and we provide assistance on any servicer related questions that may arise with his loan.  As it is with most important closings, Gino Jr. was initially a client but has now become a good friend.  The Zavarella’s will always be a valued customer of ASKD Capital and a relationship we will nurture for a lifetime.