Silverstein Properties (SPI) has launched a real estate lending joint venture called Silverstein Capital Partners.
As banks have tightened their own CRE lending platforms, Silverstein is joining developers such a SL Green, RXR, Moinian and Related, to lend to their own.
It will initially focus on office, industrial, residential and retail properties and initially have a minimum $25 million investment and no maximum financing size.
“The genesis of the lending vehicle was our shared vision with our well-aligned partners that there is an increasing need in the capital markets for sophisticated lenders who both understand the complexities of development and can act quickly to provide efficient capital to sponsors,” said Jason Kaufman, vice president of SPI.
In a press release, SPI siad it has partnered with “two global institutional investors with established track records in the U.S. real estate market,” for the venture.
Silverstein Capital Partners will focus on providing senior loans, bridge loans, subordinate loans, and rescue capital to borrowers on shovel-ready ground-up construction, heavy value-add repositioning, land and inventory loans on completed condominium projects.
Michael May has joined the firm as president of Silverstein Capital Partners. the 30-year industry veteran most recently co-founded and served as COO of the $30 billion Cantor Commercial Real Estate Company (CCRE). Before that, he was a managing director at Credit Suisse for 13 years.
May joins SPI as the firm celebrates a sereis of recent successes. In June, the company opened 3 World Trade Center, its 80-story office tower anchored by the world’s largest media investment firm GroupM. The company also recently signed leases with stock exchange company IEX and McKinsey & Co. to occupy space in the building.
In July, SPI closed on the $1.2 billion purchase of the Disney-owned ABC campuses on the Upper West Side.
The firm recently completed One West End at Riverside Place, and is expected to start construction on a new residential project in the Hudson Yards district in 2019.
“Our borrowers will benefit from Silverstein’s unparalleled development expertise combined with the Joint Venture’s significant capacity,” said May. “I am incredibly excited to partner with Silverstein and our investors to develop and grow this new lending platform.”
