Real Estate Capital USA Awards 2022

Welcome to Real Estate Capital USA's 2022 Awards

Welcome to the voting site for Real Estate Capital USA's Annual Awards, a place where you help decide which organizations and deals best represented the US real estate debt market in 2022.

Before you get voting, here’s what you need to know:

- You may only vote once per category.
- You may not vote for your own firm or deal.
- You are not required to vote in all categories, but we encourage you to make a selection in as many as possible.
- All votes are confidential.
- Block votes will not be counted.
- You need to leave a company email address and agree to the survey terms and conditions for your votes to be eligible.

- Personal email addresses, such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo addresses, will not be counted.

The polls will close at midnight on Friday February 10, 2023 and the results will be revealed in April.

So who were the best of the best in real estate debt in 2022?

You decide so get voting now!

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* Bank Lender of the Year

Bank OZK
Bank OZK was a senior lender on multiple high-profile transactions over the past year, including a $202 million San Diego life sciences development, a $385 million Brooklyn multifamily development, and a $215 million loan to find the redevelopment of a Chicago office building.

JPMorgan
JPMorgan’s originations included a strong bet on New York City’s office market, with the bank taking the lead on a $415 million refinancing package for the Rudin family to revamp 3 Times Square. The bank also committed $425 million of debt to refinance an existing loan on One Times Square for Jamestown.

Morgan Stanley
The bank was an active lender in 2022, participating in deals that included a $1.3 billion financing package for RXR Realty’s planned renovation of 3 Times Square in New York.

Wells Fargo
The lender’s activity in 2022 including funding the development of a $277 million loan for sponsors Advance Realty Group and Greek Development for a series of industrial projects, a $191 million loan for GFP Real Estate for the redevelopment of a New York office building, and a $103.5 million loan for a Mill Creek Residential development in Davie, Florida.

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* Alternative Lender of the Year - $15 billion+ AuM

ACORE Capital
ACORE Capital, with approximately $20 billion AuM, originated app originated approximately $37 billion in 471 loans as of September 30, 2022. During the same period, the firm originated approximately $6 billion across 69 loans with an average loan size of $85 million across asset classes including office, industrial/logistics, multifamily, hotels, self-storage and retail. The firm last year also received commercial “CPS3” primary and “CSS3+” special servicer ratings from Fitch Ratings and further built out its investment management platform. The firm gained new capital commitments from the New Mexico State Investment Council, Los Angeles Water and Power Employees’ Retirement Plan and the West Virginia Investment Management Board.

Berkshire Residential Investments
The firm has been lending and investing through volatility, with Berkshire’s residential lending through its MF1 program projected to have a volume of about $5.5 billion in 2022. The lender closed more than 80 loans in 2022 via its MF1 program on behalf of 67 sponsors in 41 markets with an average loan commitment of $57.8 million. Berkshire also completed four multifamily CRE CLOs totaling $6.1 billion and was the top issuer in 2022.

Blackstone
Blackstone widened its commercial real estate presence in 2022 with a continual flurry of activity across Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and Blackstone Mortgage Trust. The firm inked multiple $200 million-plus financing packages throughout the year, including a $325 million loan to Atlas Capital Group, The Baupost Group and Zeckendorf Development for the development of two luxury apartment towers in New York.

KKR
KKR Real Estate Credit last year expanded its real estate credit franchise, which invests in senior transitional loans, stabilized first mortgages, opportunistic loans, mezzanine debt and other strategies. Highlights include growing its AuM to $31 billion, or a little less than half of all of KKR’s total global real estate portfolio and significant year-over-year increases in its senior loan portfolio. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust completed its fifth year as a public company, originating more than $16.3 billion of loans since inception and the firm has also seen KKR Real Estate Select Trust grow to $3.6 billion.

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* Alternative Lender of the Year – Sub-$15 billion AuM

3650 REIT
The national commercial real estate lender had an active year, with noteworthy moves which included a $150 million financing in October for two industrial-anchored portfolios and a $170 million Miami multifamily transaction earlier in the year. The REIT also increased its activity in the preferred equity space, which included a Q4 investment in a $500 million Sun Belt apartment portfolio acquisition.

Invesco Real Estate
Invesco Real Estate closed 39 loans totaling roughly $4 billion over the last 12 months, all while maintaining a strong track record with no history of losses since the inception of its real estate credit business in 2013. Key transactions last year include traditional and newer asset classes, including roughly $200 million of loans in the industrial outdoor storage sector. The firm has completed $16 billion of originations since inception, with a current portfolio of roughly $10 billion.

Kayne Anderson Real Estate Debt
Kayne Anderson Real Estate Debt completed $2.1 billion of loan originations in 2022, a level which represented its most active year to date since launching its direct lending business in 2018. The firm also raised its largest debt fund to date, garnering $1.875 million of capital commitments against an initial target of $1.5 billion.

Madison Realty Capital
The New York-based manager had an eventful 2022, closing Madison Realty Capital Debt Fund V at the start of the year with $2.08 billion in investor commitments, exceeding its $1.75 billion target. Then, the firm launched its sixth debt vehicle in September, with nearly half of its $2.25 billion target already raised.

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* Securitized Deal of the Year

Berkshire Residential Investments - MF1 2022-FL8
Berkshire Residential Investments, an established residential investor and CRE CLO issuer, completed MF1 2022-FL8. The transaction was the firm’s eighth securitization through its MF1 bridge lending platform, a joint venture with Limekiln Real Estate. MF1 2022-FL8 – which consists of 38 properties in 24 US markets and carries a $2 billion face value – marked the first commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation of the year and featured 31 sponsors across the all-multifamily deal.

Deutsche Bank, Barclays JV’s InTown Suites
Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo completed a $1.2 billion commercial mortgage-backed securities single-borrower deal backed by InTown Suites, an extended stay hotel brand owned by Starwood Capital and The Blackstone Group. The deal was used to finance the acquisition of 188 In Town Suites and eight Uptown Suites hotels by affiliates of Starwood Capital Group, the original owner of the properties, and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust.

Citibank’s Watermark Lodging Trust
The $1.89 billion loan, securitized in a CMBS SASB deal, was originated by Citibank on behalf of Brookfield Real Estate Funds’ $3.8 billion acquisition of Watermark Lodging Trust. The portfolio is backed by high-quality hospitality properties, including the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco. Dechert advised on the deal.

Goldman Sachs’ ECI multifamily securitization
Goldman Sachs completed a $520 million securitization of a $520 million mortgage of Sunbelt multifamily properties on behalf of Atlanta-based ECI. The deal, GSMS 2022-ECI, was used to refinance existing debt on a portfolio of properties which is in some of the most desirable submarkets in the US.

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* Large-Ticker Lender of the Year ($100m+)

ACORE Capital
ACORE Capital found tailwinds with its investment management platform in 2022 with $6 billion of originations leading up to the fourth quarter, including activity such as the $276.8 million loan to CORE Investments for the cash-in refinancing of a 28 contiguous parcel portfolio. ACORE also originated a $265 million to S.D. Malkin Properties for a 387-key, master-planned beach resort in Oceanside in North County San Diego, California.

Blackstone
Loan size and firepower was no issue for Blackstone in 2022 despite the market’s wider reel back in supersized activity. The firm kept its large-ticket activity varied with deals such as a $700 million construction loan for Onni Group’s luxury rental project in Seattle and separately a $270 million refinancing package for Columbia Property Trust on its trophy office asset at 799 Broadway in New York.

Invesco
Invesco originated numerous loans in excess of $100 million in 2022, the most notable of which include the Brooklyn Townhomes, Aperture Del Mar, and 745 Atlantic financings. Brooklyn Townhomes was a $500 million opportunity for the aggregation of renovated and stabilized townhome properties located in Brooklyn while the loan on 745 Atlantic represented a $180 million financing for a Boston life science conversion. Meanwhile, Aperture Del Mar was a $575 million financing opportunity for a life science development located in San Diego.

KKR
KKR Real Estate Credit, which originates loans of $50 million to more than $500 million, closed more than 55 loans larger than $100 million and has an average loan size of $124 million. Originations include a more than $500 million floating-rate loan on a regional industrial and logistics portfolio and a $300 million construction financing for a life sciences development in Boston’s Seaport District.

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* Mid-Market Lender of the Year ($50m to $100m)

ACORE Capital
Los Angeles-based ACORE Capital kicked off 2022 with a $75.3 million loan to fund the acquisition of a residential property in Texas. In the months that followed, the firm provided a $125 million loan on an office property in Texas, a $55 million loan on a Suburban Atlanta Multifamily Asset and, alongside Bank OZK, $80.5 million in construction financing for an industrial project in Winchester, Virginia. The firm also provided $98 million to Busboom Group and Archwood Real Estate to acquire and enhance The Edge apartments, a 417-unit, 2013-built, garden-style multifamily property in Euless, Texas.

Broadmark Realty Capital
The Seattle-based mortgage REIT outlined a plan of vigorous growth, with plans to be a lower-leverage, rapid-response player in the sub-$75 million lending space. The firm targets loans of $5 million to $75 million and focuses on short-term financing opportunities.

Kayne Anderson Real Estate
Kayne Anderson Real Estate leveraged its $4 billion private equity real estate debt platform into a 2022 highlighted by $2.1 billion of loan deployments across 29 deals during the year. This was the Kayne Anderson Real Estate Debt’s most active year in the market and featured transactions across medical office, student and multifamily housing, senior housing and self-storage.

Thorofare Capital
The Los Angeles-based investment manager, the commercial real estate arm of Callodine Group, was an active lender in the middle market space in 2022. Loans included a $20 million financing for a Scottsdale, Arizona, storage property as well as a variety of similarly profiled loans which fit its recession-resilient lending strategy. The firm originates loans of $1 million to $100 million.

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* Small-Ticket Lender of the Year ($25m to $50m)

Arrowmark Partners
ArrowMark Commercial Real Estate Partners is the real estate investment arm of ArrowMark Partners, a Denver-based, privately owned asset management firm with about $22 billion in AuM. Since inception in 2019, the real estate business has originated over $2.2bln of first mortgage commercial mortgage loans and structured equity across all markets and asset classes. Notable transactions last year include a five-year, $40 million loan on a Class B Pittsburgh multifamily asset and a $27.5 million, three-year fixed-rate loan on a Scottsdale self-storage property.

Avana Companies
Since 2002, AVANA Companies has worked to support disadvantaged small business owners through access to capital that both helps to preserve wealth and create growth. Founded by Sundip and Sanat Patel, works nationally to connect small business owners in the hospitality industry with access to private capital. In 2022, Avana Capital is projected to fund $150M of loans, including $5 million to $25M SBA loans, refinancings, cash-out refinancings, acquisition, bridge to permanent loans and construction to permanent loans. Many of the firm’s clients are renovating hotels with major US franchises.

iBorrow
The non-bank lender, which opened its door in 2013, has completed more than $1.3 billion of loans across sectors and markets since inception. With a focus on value-added and opportunistic plays, the firm has closed more than $850 million of new loans over the past three years. Loans funded include a $20 million loan for the acquisition of a 232-unit Dallas multifamily property and $25 million to renovate and refinance a hotel in Atlanta.

Toorak Capital
Toorak, via a network of partner lenders in the US and the UK, reached a key milestone in its business in 2022 - $10 billion of whole loan originations since its inception in 2016. The firm has a unique business model through which it partners with lenders which originate loans according to its credit standards and then completing securitizations. The firm has completed more than 26,000 loan originations since its launch.

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* Life Sciences Lender of the Year

Brookfield Asset Management
The manager originated a $278 million financing package on behalf of a partnership that includes CV Properties, Cannon Hill Partners and L&B Realty Advisors in Boston’s Somerville submarket. The sponsors are planning to build a nine-story, 334,000-square-foot life sciences facility.

Invesco Real Estate
Invesco Real Estate was an extremely active in the life sciences sector in 2022, completing best-in-class loans that included a $100 million mezzanine loan in conjunction with a $475 million loan originated by Bank OZK for Gemdale USA’s development of Aperture Del Mar in the San Diego sub-market. San Diego has been the focal point for a sustained wave of life science loans with Invesco itself originating $1.4 billion of its life sciences origination volume in and around the Southern California city during 2022.

KKR Real Estate Credit
KKR Real Estate Credit closed six life sciences loans over the 12 months ending on December 21, loans that representing a combined total loan value of approximately $2 billion. The financings included a mix of construction and acquisition loans across value add, opportunistic and stabilized business plans which ranged in size from $135 million to $581 million. Five of the six loans were floating-rate, while the final loan was fixed-rate. The financings were in life sciences hubs that included Boston/Cambridge and the Bay Area, with one on the emerging Boulder, CO life sciences & biotech hub.

Square Mile
The lender, along with Bank OZK, originated a $202.6 million loan to finance the construction of Bioterra, a planned San Diego life sciences development. The property, in the city’s Sorrenta Mesa submarket, is being developed by Longfellow Real Estate Partners and is expected to meet the standards for LEED Gold certification and Fitwel.

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* Hospitality and Leisure Lender of the Year

Blackstone
Blackstone was an active hotel lender in 2022, financing transactions that included a $191 million luxury development in Costa Rica arranged by Lotus Capital Partners for sponsors Gencom and Mohari Hospitality. The firm also financed Partners Group and Trinity Investments’ acquisition of the Four Seasons Dallas at Las Colinas.

Deutsche Bank Securities
The bank, along with Bank of Montreal, originated a roughly $1 billion loan for a public-to-private transaction for CorePoint Lodging on behalf of Cerberus Capital Management. The loan was backed by a portfolio of 110 hotel properties and other assets related to the $1.5 billion acquisition. Cadwalader advised on the deal.

Franklin BSP Trust
The manager funded a $235 million loan to refinance debt on The Esler Hotel & Residences, a 646-unit condominium hotel in Miami. The financing, which included additional mezzanine debt, demonstrates the firm’s expertise in the hotel subsector as well as a long-term relationship with the sponsor, Property Markets Group.

Madison Realty Capital
In September, Madison Realty Capital originated a $315.6 million loan for the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences New Orleans for Carpenter & Company and Woodward Interests that was earmarked for the completion of the renovation at the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences New Orleans at 2 Canal Street in New Orleans. The financing was notable for its flexibility and the firm’s familiarity with the Four Seasons brand.

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* Data Center Lender of the Year

Goldman Sachs
Goldman led a group of lenders which included Citibank, Wells Fargo, Barclays, and Santander to finance KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners’ acquisition of CyrusOne. The financing totaled $15 billion for the privatization and included both real estate and corporate finance strategies.

SMBC
The lender led a $1.2 billion financing for QTS Realty Trust, a data center-focused real estate investment trust. The financing will be used for the construction of a new data center campus and follows a similar financing the lender, a member of SMBC Group, completed earlier in the year for the REIT.

Societe Generale
The lender originated and closed a $300 million green loan on behalf of Vantage Data Centers, which will use the financing for a planned server farm in Ashburn, Virginia. The planned 365,000-square-foot property will include a number of sustainable features, including using water for cooling.

TD Bank
The lender led a syndicate of banks to finance DigitalBridge and IFM Investors’ privatization of Switch, a roughly $11 billion transaction. The transaction, which included Dechert as an advisor, was one of the largest public-to-private data center deals to be completed.

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* Office Lender of the Year

Aareal Capital
The bank’s activity this year included a $370 million loan for New York’s 100 Church Street, a 1.1 million-square-foot office building in New York. The loan was used to refinance existing debt.

JPMorgan
The bank, along with Bank of Montreal, funded a $930 million loan on behalf of GIC and Workspace Property Trust to finance the acquisition of a portfolio of 53 class A suburban offices. JPMorgan was an active lender in the sector, with other prominent loans that included a $326 million financing package to refinance debt on 260 Madison Avenue and 261 Madison Avenue.

Morgan Stanley
The lender was part of a financing consortium with Apollo Global Management and AIG which originated a $1.3 billion financing for RXR Realty’s planned renovations of New York’s 5 Times Square, a 1.1 million-square-foot asset. The financing, along with similar high-profile deals, demonstrates the bank’s commitment to premium sponsors and opportunities.

Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo originated a $348.8 million loan for Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group on New York’s 50 Hudson Yards, a transaction which demonstrated the bank’s commitment to large-scale deals and key transactions across sectors.

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* Logistics Lender of the Year

CIBC
CIBC funded both acquisitions and development loans in 2022, with prominent transactions that included a $153 million loan on behalf of Bridge Industrial for the second phase of Bridge Point Commerce Center in Miami Gardens and a $20 million loan for Hilco Redevelopment Partners for a Miami-area warehouse project.

Square Mile Capital Management
The sector was a strong area of focus for Square Mile Capital Management, which originated a number of loans including a $200 million financing with BMO for KKR to develop four industrial sites and a $97 million loan for Glenstar for the construction of Tri County 75 Industrial Campus, a planned Fort Myers, Florida industrial project.

Thorofare Capital
The firm completed a slew of middle-market industrial loans in 2022, financing short-term acquisition and redevelopment projects throughout the ups and downs of the market. Representatives deals include a $20 million loan for the acquisition of North Arlington, a New Jersey industrial property and a roughly $10 million loan on a Camden County, New Jersey industrial outdoor storage facility.

Wells Fargo
The bank was a frequent participant in high-profile industrial deals in 2022, with activity that included a $227 million loan for sponsors Advance Realty Investors and Greek Development for a series of industrial projects. Wells Fargo also completed additional financings of smaller and larger scale, including a $51 million loan on Sawgrass Place in Coral Springs.

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* Multifamily Lender of the Year

Berkshire Residential Investments
Berkshire Residential Investments kept itself active in the multifamily sector through its joint venture bridge lending platform MF1 run in partnership with Limekin Real Estate. Berkshire originated 343 multifamily bridge loans totaling $16 billion in loan funding as MF1 took a 20-plus percent market share of the commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation market in 2022. The firm closed more than 80 loans in 2022 for 67 sponsors in 41 markets and also completed four multifamily-only CRE CLOs.

Blackstone
Blackstone expanded its multifamily portfolio with a flurry of loan activity in 2022, including a $224 million construction financing package for a new mixed-use asset in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. Through Blackstone Mortgage Trust, the firm also backed what will become Texas’ tallest tower with its $675 million construction loan for Waterline in downtown Austin, Texas.

Kayne Anderson Real Estate
Kayne Anderson Real Estate dialed up its multifamily lending with a particular focus on affordable workforce housing and the Class B multifamily category in 2022. The firm totaled $1.4 billion in whole loans within the Class B sector to finance the acquisition of 34 such multifamily assets across the US during the year.

Mesa West Capital
Mesa West Capital focused the bulk of its 2022 origination activity on multifamily, dolling out an estimated $1.6 billion in multifamily originations throughout the calendar year of the estimated $2.8 billion of total originations closed on. Its multifamily portfolio grew on a national basis with sizable deals in Florida, Minnesota, Ariona and a $139.8 million loan to Sares Regis Group for the acquisition and repositioning of a 386-unit community in Denver, Colorado as part of the 2022 loan regimen.

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* Mortgage REIT of the Year

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance
The firm, which committed to roughly $243 million of mortgages in fourth quarter, completed loan originations of $3.7 billion in 2022. A significant portion of the new originations were financed via loan repayments, which totaled $2.2 billion.

Blackstone
Blackstone Mortgage Trust did not shy away from making blockbuster originations in 2022 with a $26 billion portfolio already under its belt. BXMT ended the third quarter of the year with a company record $1.7 billion of liquidity and garnered round-after-round of headlines with deals such as its $675 million construction loan for Waterline, a new megadevelopment in downtown Austin, Texas solidified in September 2022.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust
The mortgage REIT focuses on originating senior commercial real estate loans on behalf of premium sponsors and recently celebrated its fifth anniversary as a public company. Since inception, the REIT has completed more than $16.3 billion of loans and grew its portfolio to roughly $7.7 billion, a 33 percent year over year increase. As of the end of September, the mortgage REIT screened $142 billion of loans and originated $4.1 billion of loans screened.

Ready Capital
The New York mortgage REIT was an active lender in 2022 which also worked to expand its lending platform. Through the end of the third quarter, the REIT completed total investment activity of $6.7 billion while maintaining its traditionally conservative approach to liquidity, leverage and credit.

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* ESG Lender of the Year

GreenRock Capital
GreenRock Capital, a Larkspur, California-based advisory company that specializes Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, completed one of the largest C-PACE financing through a $103 million transaction for a San Francisco hospital. The transaction for Chinese Hospital in San Francisco involved refinancing existing PACE debt on the property’s 2016 vintage Patient Tower. The two-tranche offering includes both taxable and non-taxable components and reduced the cost of financing seismic and other building improvements.

ING Real Estate Finance
The lender has been active in the green lending space, working with sponsors around the US on financings that will allow for the revitalization of high-quality, older vintage properties in key markets and sectors in addition to its traditional commercial real estate lending.

Nuveen Green Capital
Nuveen Green Capital specializes in C-PACE financings, a public-private funding mechanism with deep roots in ESG. The group, founded by Jessica Bailey and Alexandra Cooley, saw substantial growth in 2022 as the firm grew at the same time as more cities and regions were adopting C-PACE financing to upgrade the resiliency and energy efficiency of buildings.

Petros PACE Finance
In October, Petros closed a $153 million C-PACE financing that is part of the $829 million Black Desert Resort project in Ivins, Utah. The planned 580-acre report will comprise a luxury hotel, condos and mixed-use space. The transaction is the largest C-PACE financing ever completed and will be used to fund energy efficiency measures at the property.

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* Construction Lender of the Year

Blackstone
The firm was an active construction lender in 2022, originating a $675 million construction loan for a downtown Austin residential development via Blackstone Mortgage Trust. The tower, known as Waterline, is being constructed by Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential. The firm also originated a $224 million loan for a mixed-use tower in Miami, Edgewater.

Corebridge Financial
The lender’s activity in 2022 included a $290 million construction loan on behalf of Gattuso Development Partners and Vigilant Holdings for a state-of-the art life sciences property in Philadelphia. The property, at 3201 Cuthbert Street, will be part of the city’s University City submarket, where there is a growing concentration of life sciences development.

Harbor Group International
The firm was an active lender in the construction market in 2022, with activity that included the origination of a $90 million senior mezzanine loan for Extell Development’s construction of a Manhattan medical office building at 1520 First Avenue. The capital stack, which included commitments from Rexmark and Pacific Western Bank, totaled $425 million for a project that is notable for its location in the midst of a submarket with substantial need for high-quality medical office space.

Parkview Financial
The firm completed more than $1 billion of construction loans in 2022. Parkview Financial generates double digit net yields for investors and has carved out a unique niche given its founders’ real estate development backgrounds. In 2022, key transactions included a $207 million loan for the acquisition and redevelopment of New York’s Hudson Hotel into a multifamily property. Through November 30, the firm had completed more than $1.1 billion of volume.

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* Investment Financing Deal of the Year

Blackstone
Blackstone made its claim for investment financing deal of the year with its $700 million whole loan to Onni Group for the sponsor’s Seattle-based luxury rental project, Onni South Lake Union. The November 2022 refinancing for the 1,097-unit project arrived during a quarter where some capital availability was receding in the commercial real estate debt marketplace.

KKR Real Estate Credit
In September 2022, KKR Real Estate Credit closed a $581 million senior loan for the construction of Elco Yards, a 656,000-square foot trophy mixed-use office and life science development in Redwood City, California. The transaction demonstrates KKR’s capabilities as a scaled solutions provider able to underwrite complex transitional loans. The deal included multiple pools of capital which allowed the lender to provide a whole loan solution to the borrower, o IQHQ, a leading international life sciences developer and operator. The firm provided a senior transitional loan on the planned four-property, trophy office and life sciences campus.

Madison Realty Capital
Madison Realty Capital took a less traditional route when making its case for investment financing deal of the year with its $315.6 million loan for the renovation of the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences in New Orleans. The financing helped boost a joint venture between Carpenter & Company and Woodward Interests for the 33-story tower, which features 341 hotel keys and 92 residential condominiums.

Wells Fargo
The lender funded a $191 million loan on 40 Worth Street in New York on behalf of sponsor GFP Real Estate. The seven-year financing, which will be used to build out 200,000 square feet of space for a tenant, the Legal Aid Society, and refinance existing debt. The financing illustrates the ability to upgrade existing properties for modern users.

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* Debt Advisory Team of the Year

Berkadia
Berkadia was an active player in the mortgage finance market last year, a position illustrated in part by the work of Bob Falese, a senior managing director in the firm’s Philadelphia office. With more than $18 billion of loans originated in his career, Falese completed more than $1.8 billion of refinancing and acquisition financing in 2022 in activity which mirrors the company’s broader goals and scope.

KKR Capital Markets
KKR Capital Markets is a 10-person team led by Amanda Magliaro and has expertise on all areas of commercial real estate, with extensive experience around highly bespoke facilities across all property types. In 2022, KCM’s real estate team advised on 130 deals, representing $23.9bn in proceeds, across data center, multifamily housing, SFR, senior housing, student housing, industrial, life science and self-storage product types. These deals included the $11.5 billion US/European financing for KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners’ acquisition of Cyrus One. As of December 12, 2022, 48% of the global KKR Capital Markets team identify as a gender and/or ethnic minority.

Lotus Capital Partners
Lotus Capital Partners, an advisory company focused on large structured credit transactions, arranged a number of innovative deals in 2022. The firm closed more than $2 billion of financings with unique structures, including a $170 million financing package for Panther National that will allow the borrower access to more than $400 million of capital. Lotus also arranged $340 million of hotel financing in Costa Rica in separate transactions for two separate transactions.

StackSource
In 2022, StackSource demonstrated expertise and professionalism in providing debt and structured financing expertise to developers and investors. Beth Mercante, senior managing director, and Zach Wagner, senior director, arranged the financing for 18 transactions, totaling $464 Million in debt and subordinate capital. Notable transactions include a $141.5 Million capital stack sourced across five tranches for the historic Jefferson Arms, $78 Million in senior and mezzanine debt for a multifamily development in Huntersville, North Carolina, and $48 Million of debt and preferred equity for Class A apartments in Austin, Texas.

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* Boutique Debt Advisor of the Year

Black Bear Capital Partners
The firm, a subsidiary of Black Bear Asset Management, specializes in structured debt and equity transactions nationally and works across all property types. The firm's activity includes a $44 million refinancing of a 390,000-square-foot commercial property, Allendale Corporate Center in Allendale, New Jersey, and numerous other middle market financings.

Concord Summit Capital
The firm assembled a $232.5 million financing package with a significant C-PACE component to fuel the construction of a Kindred Resort, a mixed-use development in Keystone, Colorado. The financing, completed for co-general partner Pure Development, included $55.47 million of C-PACE financing atop a $140 million senior construction loan, a $30 million preferred equity commitment and a $7 million co-general partner investment the sponsor.

Tower Capital
The Scottsdale-based advisory firm completed more than $530 million of financing originations in 2022. Tower Capital, formed in 2015 by Adam Finkel and Kyle McDonough, has completed more than $2 billion of originations since inception and was active through the covid-19 pandemic. The firm works across sectors and asset classes, including the growing hotel to multifamily trend and the build-to-rent market. Tower Capital’s recent transactions included arranging roughly $185 million of financing for four build-to-rent developments in the southwest.

WAY Capital
WAY, a newly launched advisory firm, has seen significant growth in its first year of operations. Founders Malcolm Davies and Zachary Streit were on track to complete $1.2 billion of financings in 2022, which translates into about $2 billion of capitalizations. The West Coast-headquartered company opened an office in Nashville in June as part of its growth and now has a team of 13 people working to arrange financing across sectors and markets. Its activity includes closing $247 million of construction financings.

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* Fundraise of the Year

Bridge Investment Group
Bridge Investment Group completed fundraising for its fourth debt strategy, Bridge Debt Strategies Fund IV. The firm raised $2.9 billion in equity commitments to originate first mortgages, invest in Freddie Mac K-Series B-pieces and acquire other commercial real estate backed debt.

Berkshire Residential Investments
Berkshire raised a $1.25 billion co-investment vehicle, Berkshire Bridge Loan Investors II-A, from November 22, 2021, through January 21, 2022 (90 days). The co-investment was raised alongside Berkshire Bridge Loan Investors II, a $1.47B fund that closed in April 2021 and deployed capital more rapidly than anticipated due to successful investment activity. In aggregate, Berkshire raised $2.7B for Bridge Loan II and II-A.

Greystar Real Estate Partners
The firm raised $600 million for its third credit strategy, Greystar Credit Partners III. The fund will focus on the acquisition of securitized subordinated debt, private label securitization, junior notes and mezzanine debt. All of its investments will be focused on properties in the for-rent residential space and the latest fund demonstrates the firm’s long-term commitment to the space.

Kayne Anderson Real Estate Debt
In the second quarter of 2022, Kayne’s real estate debt platform closed on its largest debt fund to date, Kayne Anderson Real Estate Debt IV, with $1.875 billion in capital commitments, surpassing its initial target of $1.5 billion. The capital was raised from a diverse group of existing and new investors and the fund is already over 55% deployed.

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* Law Firm of the Year

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
Led by Bonnie Neuman, the firm advised on transactions across sectors and markets in 2022 which included representing JPMorgan Chase in a roughly $1 billion securitized loan backed by 25 net-lease office and industrial properties totaling 9.5 million square feet for The Carlyle Group’s acquisition of iStar’s net lease business. In two separate 2022 financing packages, Cadwalader advised the administrative agent, joint lead arrangers and lenders on approximately $2 billion in mortgage financing alongside other involved parties in connection with Blackstone’s approximately $13 billion acquisition of American Campus Communities Inc. REIT.

Dechert
The firm had a strong year, working across loan originations, securitizations, and creditor rights and enforcements. Notable activity included Dechert’s work as issuer counsel on nine SFR deals in the first half of the year and its activity as lenders’ counsel in the $4 billion financing for Industrial Logistics Properties Trust’s public-to-private acquisition of Monmouth Real EState Investment Corp.

Kirkland & Ellis
The firm was a very active advisor in 2022, working on key transactions which included acting as an advisor on the Deutsche Bank-led CMBS deal for Starwood and Blackstone’s acquisition of InTown Suites.

Morrison & Foerster
The firm's activity in 2022 included a significant role in reshaping New York's skyline. This activity included representing Wells Fargo in its role as the administrative agent and lead arranger of a $1.8 billion construction loan for an office and retail tower located at 50 Hudson Yards. Costing nearly $4 billion to construct, the office and retail tower will be the home office for BlackRock, with Facebook leasing 1.5 million square feet.

Question Title

* Law Firm – Transaction of the Year

Cadwalader – iStar net lease acquisition
Cadwalader represented JPMorgan Chase Bank as lender in a $1.083 billion securitized mortgage loan secured by 25 net lease office and industrial properties totaling 9.5 million square feet across 18 states for The Carlyle Group, as part of a $1.295 billion debt package that financed the firm’s $1.86 billion acquisition of the portfolio from iStar. The non-securitized portion of the loan included a loan financing a portfolio of retail and entertainment assets across the United States.

Dechert - CyrusOne
Dechert was the principal counsel to a consortium of lenders which included Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Barclays, and Santander for KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners’ acquisition of the privatization of data center specialist CyrusOne. Dave Forti, co-chair of the global finance and real estate group, oversaw the transaction with Matt Ginsburg and Ani Ravi and helped to establish the CMBS market as an attractive source of financing for data center deals.

Kirkland & Ellis
The firm represented InTown Suites, a hotel brand owned by Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust on its $1.2 billion Deutsche Bank-led commercial mortgage-backed securities financing.

Morrison & Foerster
The firm was very active as an advisor to lenders in 2022, including representing Société Générale and Standard Chartered Bank in a $2.11 billion senior secured portfolio mortgage financing of 155 industrial properties on behalf of Mapletree Investments and representing JP Morgan on a $415 million syndicated mortgage secured by 3 Times Square. The firm also advised Wells Fargo on a $1.8 billion loan on 50 Hudson Yards.

Question Title

* Loan Servicer of the Year

CBRE Loan Services
The servicer oversees a portfolio of $376 billion, providing servicing and loan administration in the US and further afield across a broad swath of loans and structured debt instruments. CBRE Loan Services oversees more than 15,000 loans.

Mount Street
Mount Street grew its loan servicing book in 2022 with 11 new commercial real estate clients and 10 new professionals in the US to help fuel additional growth. The firm – which manages $27 billion of assets across primary complex, balance‐sheet loans and special servicing on CMBS deals – also expanded services to include loan underwriting and credit analysis, as well as more CMBS special servicing features such as conduit, SASB and whole loan capabilities.

SitusAMC
SitusAMC remained a top primary loan servicer and special servicer in 2022 with a growing presence in the US and Europe. In its primary servicing division, the firm supported 6,234 loans and $277.7 billion in unpaid principal balances across the US and Europe, including 64 securitized transactions representing $23 bullion in unpaid principal balances. SitusAMC was also named on over 300 securitizations covering more than 2,800 loans as of the third quarter 2022, accounting for $120.2 billion in UPB across traditional CMBS, CLO, and SFR transactions.

Trimont
Trimont saw its assets under management rise by 20 percent in 2022 in the US, growing its headcount in conjunction with its client growth. The firm’s headcount rose in the US by almost 40 percent in 2022 and Trimont continues to operate as one of the largest third-party servicers in the sector. Additionally, the firm was selected as the servicer on new ESG impact funds last year, demonstrating its capabilities in sustainable lending for investors and other market participants.