Scott Weiner.
Scott Weiner
Chief Investment Officer at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance
Welcome to the list, Apollo! You’re here for very good reason.
Apollo originated an impressive $11 billion of global commercial real estate loans in 2019. Notable U.S. transactions include the $805 million senior mortgage for the retail portion of the Crown Building and a $580 million senior mortgage for the refinancing of One Court Square in Long Island City.
“I think you saw us really doing much larger transactions last year, whether it be in mortgage or mezzanine debt, and sometimes also taking pieces of both,” Scott Weiner, the firm’s CIO, said. “The Crown Building is an example where we did the whole loan and sliced it into different risk pieces — depending on each investor’s appetite for risk — until we had a mortgage and two levels of mezzanine. So that was really different for us.”
Those big deals were executed before real estate settled into a deep freeze.
In addition to its stateside activity, Apollo expanded its originations overseas beyond the U.K., doing transactions in Spain, Italy and Germany. “Unlike a traditional investment manager, we really can do everything from higher-yielding mezz loans on transitional properties to more stabilized properties, or even trophy-like properties where we can do the first mortgage and compete with other insurance companies and banks. We really run the gamut,” Weiner said.
Case in point, the lender provided a £850 million senior construction loan for the redevelopment of Whitley’s shopping centre in the Bayswater section of London into a residential-and-hotel mixed-use project.
When COVID-19 abruptly ended the elongated market cycle in March, Apollo —much like everyone else — didn’t see that particular ending coming.
“We all knew it wasn’t going to keep going,” Weiner said. “We knew something was going to bring it to an end, but not what that something would be.”
The lender remained active in January and February and into March before taking a small pause and then coming back with a bang, closing a large mezzanine loan on Five Times Square in April.
As for the rest of this year, “everything is on the table,” Weiner said. “We’re buying some hotel paper at the moment, we’re closing some logistics deals in Europe, and we’re also working on a bunch of multifamily deals in the United States. So it’s really all the major food groups in all the different markets.”—C.C.
