LMF Commercial Closing Its Doors: Sources

LMF Commercial has closed, Commercial Observer has learned.

The lender, a Lennar subsidiary, announced the closure internally and started laying off professionals in its New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Las Vegas offices on Oct. 21, several sources said. 

Lennar officials declined to comment. 

LMF Commercial was founded in 2013 by Brett Ersoff and John Herman. Prior to founding LMF, the partners led global real estate for UBS. 

An originator of five- and 10-year, fixed-rate mortgages across multifamily, retail, hotel, self-storage and office assets — with multifamily loans comprising the bulk of its loan portfolio — LMF amassed $14 billion of transactions over the years, with an average loan size of $11.3 million, according to the company’s website. The platform was a mortgage contributor to conduit commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)  transactions. 

LMF Commercial originated a $39 million loan on a Bronx housing portfolio owned by Barry Singer that was transferred to special servicing last year, and was also part of the lending consortium — together with Bank of America and UBS — for Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Properties’ $274 million refinance of the Salmon Tower office building at 11 West 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, according to The Real Deal. 

One source described LMF as “in the process of winding down” and said “they’re no longer making loans.” Another simply said they’d heard Ersoff was “hanging up the cleats.” 

The reason for the platform closing down has yet to be ascertained but one source noted that originating conduit CMBS loans is becoming increasingly difficult due to the higher-for-longer interest rate environment, “and that was LMF’s business.” 

The company employs around 50 professionals, according to its LinkedIn page. Its New York office is located at 590 Madison Avenue. 

Ersoff didn’t return a request for comment. 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com