Veteran Lender Relaunches with New Name
By Jeff Ostrowski February 2, 2023 5:36 pm
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In December, non-bank lender Trez Capital announced it had closed its Palm Beach County office.
This week, the former leaders of that office, Brett Forman and Ben Jacobson partnered to launch Forman Capital, a direct lender based in Palm Beach County. The Vancouver-based Trez Capital parted ways with Forman and Jacobson but will continue to operate in South Florida, having moved its operations to Miami.
The Forman Capital principals closed $2.6 billion in commercial real estate transactions since 2004, they said. Their recent Florida deals included a $70 million first mortgage construction loan for Block 40, a 19-story apartment project in Downtown Hollywood; a $65 million loan for a mid-rise apartment community in Dania Beach; and separate $75 million and $48 million construction loans for apartment developments in Sarasota.
Forman Capital provides short and medium-term construction financing, mezzanine loans, preferred equity and joint venture equity across a variety of real estate asset classes and geographies.
“We are taking an opportunistic approach in a time when many traditional lenders are in wait-and-see mode,” Jacobson said in a statement.
Forman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and had a career on Wall Street and in retail. From 2016 through 2022, Forman was a 50-50 partner in a joint venture with Trez Capital, a Canadian asset manager.
Jacobson started his commercial real estate finance career at Cohen Financial, a Guggenheim Partners affiliate.
Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.
