Starwood Capital Group Hires Blackstone’s Michael Eglit as U.S. Head of Originations

Fall is almost here and a slight chill — plus the scent of freshly sharpened pencils — is in the air. For Starwood Capital Group, there’s also a new leader at the helm of its debt business as the firm gears up for the fourth quarter. 

Starwood Capital has hired Michael Eglit as its new head of U.S. originations, sources confirmed to Commercial Observer. Previously, Eglit spent almost 15 years at Blackstone, most recently as head of U.S. originations for Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies. 

Commercial Mortgage Alert reported last month that the move was in the works. 

Eglit’s first day was Sept. 8 — he’ll be splitting his time between Greenwich, Conn., and New York City — and his move comes roughly 17 months after Jonathan Pollack, Eglit’s former Blackstone colleague, joined Starwood Capital Group as president.

With that familiarity as the foundation, sources familiar with the move said that Eglit becoming part of the Starwood team was a very natural fit from a cultural point of view.  As one source put it, “Starwood’s got one of the most pre-eminent debt businesses in the country, and Mike’s goal is to now come in and help make it even bigger and better.” 

Eglit brings plenty of new relationships to Starwood’s table, the source said, adding that the majority of Starwood’s loans are to repeat borrowers and the firm has lost its fair share to Blackstone as a competitor over the years. Now Eglit can bring some of those relationships Starwood couldn’t penetrate into the fold. 

“People do business with people that they know, they like and they trust, and Starwood just added that additional element in those relationships that didn’t exist before, which will be impactful to their business,” the source said, adding that the team is already looking at deals that they’ve never looked at or won previously with Eglit onboard.

Additionally, given that Eglit was instrumental in buying loan portfolios at Blackstone, Starwood now intends to do more in that area, the source said. 

Dennis Schuh was recently promoted to global head of Starwood’s debt business — from head of U.S. real estate private credit — and he and Eglit will share responsibilities day to day while Schuh also continues to expand what Starwood has built in the U.S. to foreign shores, the source said. 

And it’s quite a business Eglit’s joining. In the year ending Mar. 31, 2026, Starwood originated $10 billion in loans across 60 transactions, with industrial and residential loans comprising the lion’s share of activity. Its average loan balance topped $150 million, spanning ground-up development, heavy transitional transactions, lease-up scenarios and also bridge loans. A consistent lending force in the market, the firm has invested every single quarter since the pandemic. 

A regular honoree on Commercial Observer’s Power Finance list, Eglit joined Blackstone in October 2010 after five years at Wrightwood Capital in Chicago, where he focused on the origination, underwriting and asset management of structured senior debt investments.

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.