Ran Eliasaf
Founder and managing partner at Northwind Group
Northwind Group has capitalized on banks shifting to the lending sidelines by stepping up lending activity, originating 16 loans totaling $2.3 billion over the past year for 112 properties across 16 states.
“We’ve seen this as an opportunity, specifically since a lot of the commercial banks have been reducing their lending,” said founder Ran Eliasaf. “But I would caveat that with caution. Determining the value of real estate right now is very challenging, so we’ve reduced our loan-to-values and increased the quality of the underlying collateral and sponsors, and we’re focusing on properties that are mostly residential, where it’s easier to understand the supply and demand.”
Northwind’s lending is distributed across three strategies: providing first-
position acquisition/bridge loan solutions in New York City and other major gateway cities; providing structured financing solutions in the form of bridge to HUD loans secured by income-producing portfolios of skilled nursing and senior housing properties across the U.S.; and providing senior A note and note-on-note financings to other CRE lenders.
The company’s notable transactions in 2023 included a $313 million, first-
position condo inventory loan secured by 125 Greenwich Street, a new 88-story, luxury residential condominium in Lower Manhattan; the origination of two loans totaling $105 million and secured by two portfolios of 25 health care properties composed of 2,920 skilled nursing beds and 186 assisted-living units across Virginia and Missouri; and a $100 million senior A note to Parkview Financial as part of a $207 million senior leasehold mortgage for the multifamily conversion of Manhattan’s Hudson Hotel.
Building on this momentum, Eliasaf believes that while 2024 will not be without its challenges, it can nevertheless become a record year for Northwind.
“It’s a year where the biggest challenge will be to understand values, and I think we’re still in the early innings of the correction cycle with the new interest rate environment,” said Eliasaf. “We’re going to focus on deals where we understand the risk and try to play in a safer place in the capital stack, and provide flexible financing solutions to deals and projects that meet our criteria.”
