North Bridge Hires Wells Fargo’s Benjamin Brandler as Managing Director

North Bridge, a firm providing real estate credit solutions, has hired Benjamin Brandler as the new managing director on its investment team, Commercial Observer has learned.

Brandler joins the firm from Wells Fargo, where he worked for 14 years and most recently served as executive director and senior debt portfolio manager, according to an announcement from North Bridge.

North Bridge specializes in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, known as C-PACE. In his new role at North Bridge — which he started this month — Brandler is responsible for “overseeing the origination of new C-PACE assessment and the strategic management of North Bridge’s C-PACE portfolio,” the announcement said. He will also “cultivate and maintain borrower relationships, oversee executions and ensure performance targets are met.”

“I’m thrilled to join North Bridge at such an exciting time in the firm’s growth,” Brandler said in a statement to CO. “With a $1 billion commitment to deploy into C-PACE, we have an incredible opportunity to expand this platform and deliver creative capital solutions that meet the evolving needs of property owners and developers nationwide.”

During his time at Wells Fargo, Brandler led the organization, underwriting and asset management of more than $1.8 billion in “transitional real estate loans,” including “high-profile construction projects” in cities including New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, according to the announcement.

Outside of work, Brandler teaches real estate finance and capital markets at Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business in Manhattan.

“We are thrilled to welcome Benjamin to the team,” Laura Rapaport, founder and CEO of North Bridge, said in a statement. “His deep experience in originating and managing complex real estate loans, particularly in construction financing, will be instrumental in scaling our operations and furthering our mission to deliver capital markets solutions to our clients.”

News of the hire comes after North Bridge provided $108 million in C-PACE construction financing in January to Fisher Brothers for its Area15 District entertainment complex, representing the largest individual C-PACE construction loan ever completed in Nevada, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.