Astoria Bank’s Commercial Real Estate Head Is Out
By Damian Ghigliotty January 29, 2015 1:32 pm
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Astoria Bank’s head of commercial real estate lending, Matthew Gutauskas, has parted ways with the bank, sources told Mortgage Observer. The circumstances surrounding his departure are unclear.
Mr. Gutauskas, who took over as managing director of Astoria’s multifamily and commercial real estate services group in January 2014, is “no longer with the company,” a bank employee confirmed without commenting further.
Despite the executive vice president’s recent departure, the Long Island bank’s real estate lending volume has grown in recent years.
Astoria’s multifamily and commercial loan portfolio totaled $4.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2014, up $677.4 million from Dec. 31, 2013, according to the bank’s 2014 year-end earnings report. Those loans now represent 40 percent of the bank’s total debt portfolio, up from 33 percent in the same period last year.
Mr. Gutauskas joined Astoria Bank, formerly known as Astoria Federal Savings, in February 2011 as vice president and director of origination and production in the bank’s multifamily and commercial real estate division.
His departure will be announced in the company’s next earnings report, a person in the know said on the condition of anonymity. That person said other local lenders in the New York market are looking to poach some of Astoria’s top real estate bankers.
Another person with knowledge of the situation described the exit of Mr. Gutauskas as part of a “management shakeup” in the bank’s real estate division.
Astoria, found in 1888, ranks among the ten most active real estate lenders in the five boroughs, city data aggregated by the commercial real estate research firm Actovia shows.
A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment. Mr. Gutauskas could not be reached for comment.
