Matt Swerdlowz.
Matt Swerdlow, 28
Director of Capital Services at Ariel Property Advisors
It didn’t take long for Matt Swerdlow to realize that he belonged in finance.
Between a year at a now-defunct real estate crowdfunding company, iFunding, right out of college and then four months as an investment sales analyst at the now-shuttered Eastern Consolidated, it became clear to Swerdlow that he should be on the finance side.
“I’m a finance guy, plain and simple,” Swerdlow said.
He landed a job at Ariel Property Advisors as director of capital services in January 2017, a position he has held since.
“When I got to Ariel I was well more prepared to run a deal myself than any other 23-year-old,” he said.
Swerdlow drives origination, underwriting and placement of debt and equity assignments across the U.S. He has closed $125 million across 24 transactions so far in 2021 and aims to finish the year with about $175 million to $200 million in deal closings.
His biggest deal in 2021 was a $43.35 million cash-out refinance for a package of multifamily and mixed-use properties across Greenwich Village, SoHo and Chelsea in June. The package was in forbearance with the existing lender and Swerdlow was able to refinance the existing debt as well as return a significant amount of equity to the borrower in light of low occupancy, low collections and negative cash flow.
Swerdlow leveraged the asset’s location in the recovering Downtown residential market to create an aggressive bidding process for the opportunity. Lender Derby Copeland Capital “allowed the client to cash out of their properties even with the occupancy where it was,” Swerdlow said.
In another big deal, Swerdlow closed a $40.65 million cash-out refinance in November 2018 for a cross-collateralized pool of 23 non-credit, net-lease retail assets across 15 states. He coordinated a complex portfolio of properties in diversified markets to secure highly favorable terms and a loan amount well above the amount of the existing debt..—L.E.S.
