Bank OZK Hires James Whelan From JP Morgan for Real Estate Specialties Group

James Whelan, formerly a managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase, has taken a new position at Bank OZK, Commercial Observer has learned. 

Whelan has already started in his new role as managing director of originations in Bank OZK’s real estate specialties group, the company confirmed Wednesday. 

Most recently, he spent more than seven years at J.P. Morgan as an executive director of real estate banking, where part of his focus was the preservation and development of affordable housing. 

Previously, he spent time in both Bank of America and Anglo Irish Bank’s commercial real estate lending groups as an originator, beginning at the latter in 2005. 

A consistent honoree on Commercial Observer’s Power Finance list, Bank OZK weighed in at No. 10 this year. The team is an MVP in construction lending, nationally, with recent headline-worthy deals including a $63 million loan for Mack Real Estate Group’s new Arizona project; an $84 million loan for NDT Development, Place Projects and Wheelock Street Capital’s Nora District in West Palm Beach, Fla.; and a $413 million loan for Bridge Industrial’s logistics park in Tacoma, Wash. 

In February, longtime team member and industry vet Christopher Lawton headed to Nuveen Green Capital after eight years with Bank OZK. Lawton is now head of originations at the platform, which focuses on Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) transactions. 

In addition to his — undoubtedly— busy new role at Bank OZK, Whelan is a national board member and also the former president of the Real Estate Lenders Association’s New York City chapter. 

J.P. Morgan declined to comment. 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com