Solomon Birnbaum.
Solomon Birnbaum, 28
President at FBRE Capital
Solomon Birnbaum and his partner Thomas Fuchsman officially launched FBRE Capital (Fuchsman Birnbaum Real Estate Capital) three years ago this October.
The pair first connected while working together at JPMorgan Chase more than four years ago — Birnbaum as an analyst and Fuchsman as a vice president. Birnbaum moved on in the fall of 2017 and joined Dwight Capital. About a year later he reconnected with Fuchsman, and together they launched FBRE Capital.
“I worked on the large loan team [at JPMorgan], which was incredible,” Birnbaum said. “The deals we worked on were some of the largest office deals in the country, like 245 Park Avenue, and we did the American Dream Mall. I was an analyst on those teams.”
Birnbaum said it was at Dwight Capital — he was “fortunate enough to sit next to the co-CEO there” — where he picked up sales experience and reinvigorated “the entrepreneurial side that had gone away as I was a banker.”
After about a year of grinding and developing client relationships with a range of institutional shops, including family offices with north of $10 billion in assets under management, FBRE closed its first deal in October 2019. Birnbaum and Fuchsman’s group sealed a $61 million commercial mortgage-backed securities refinance from Bank of America on Foremost Real Estate’s 107-year-old Chelsea office building at 127 West 25th Street.
“We like to approach each client with a thoughtful approach and not get everyone excited and let them down,” Birnbaum said. “It’s about managing expectations and guiding people to what is real, which separates us from competition. We’re incredibly focused on giving the right attention and guidance and providing personal opinions on the deal and what the best options are.”
FBRE is in line to have a milestone end of the year, as it is currently teeing up its largest exclusive financing placement yet, a deal that will hover around $500 million.—M.B
