John Flynn, 31
Director at JLL
John Flynn was on his way to a career as an equities analyst when a family friend informed him about a commercial mortgage broker looking for an analyst. Flynn interviewed for the position expecting nothing more than an informative experience. Instead, the interview changed his life.
“Dan Monte at Gantry, who became my first boss, showed me a pitch book for a big student housing deal at Cornell,” said Flynn, who earned a degree in finance from Canisius University in Buffalo. “I thought it was so cool. We ran through the numbers, and it looked to be a much better fit [for me] than picking stocks — a lot more action and more day-to-day project management. I ended up getting a job offer and went with my gut, thinking it might be a better fit. The rest is history.”
Flynn spent almost three years at Gantry followed by four at Berkadia, and joined JLL as a director in their New York office in September 2021. The past year saw Flynn’s team execute more than $1 billion of transactions, including over $700 million in loans secured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt.
One of Flynn’s biggest deals this year was a $92.5 million loan on behalf of a family trust to refinance a 1,176-unit, 11-building multifamily portfolio in Queens. Flynn and his team negotiated a high-leverage, seven-year deal with Fannie Mae for the borrower.
“The deal was coming off of a two-year bridge loan that was not going to extend them, and this was when interest rates were rapidly rising,” Flynn said. “They had a very hard maturity at the beginning of July, so they really wanted to close in June. We went out to probably about 40 or so lenders, and ultimately the Fannie Mae quote was the best.”
Flynn, who has been involved in over $4 billion of transactions throughout his career, was also part of the JLL team that arranged a $230 million debt package for Lionsgate Studios Yonkers and a $56.5 million multifamily bridge loan in San Antonio that was 81 percent loan-to-cost. Both were in 2022.
