Prospect Ridge Hires Michael Mestel from H.I.G as Co-head of Credit Strategies

Prospect Ridge has added Michael Mestel from H.I.G. Capital to grow its commercial real estate credit business, Commercial Observer has learned. 

The private equity real estate investment management firm hired Mestel as a managing director and co-head of its credit strategies platform. Mestel, who was previously co-head of H.I.G. Real Estate Credit, will now look to scale Prospect Ridge’s equity and credit business alongside Robb Milne, who has been with the company since it was formed in 2019 after spinning off from AllianceBernstein. 

“The opportunity to build and grow the existing credit platform for a top tier real estate private equity firm was a unique and exciting opportunity,” Mestel said in emailed comments to CO. “The senior leadership and team’s experience are unparalleled in the real estate investment space.” 

Prior to H.I.G, Mestel held senior CRE finance positions at Square Mile Capital (Now Affinius Capital), Citigroup and Rialto Capital Management.

Mestel said he is targeting CRE investments in the top 25 metropolitan statistical areas  but is open to other markets if they demonstrate growth, “strong demographics and favorable and diverse economic drivers.” 

Brahm Cramer, co-founder and co-chief investment office at Prospect Ridge, said in a statement that Mestel’s “deep credit expertise and strong industry relationships will play a key role in advancing our platform.”

Since inception, Prospect Ridge and its predecessor entities have completed more than 100 real estate investments totalling over $13 billion, according to the company. 

“In the short term, we want to establish ourselves as a reliable real estate credit provider and grow into a market leading lender in the alternative lending space,” Mestel said. “Longer term, we want to scale considerably and diversify our offerings to the market and be a meaningful player in all parts of the debt capital structure.” 

Officials at H.I.G. Capital did not immediately return a request for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com