Michelle Herrick and Brian Baker

For a firm with a fortress balance sheet, and a royal reputation to boot, J.P. Morgan felt disposed to deploy capital in 2024. The firm made $42.4 billion in originations, of which $17.5 billion went into the multifamily space, and $5.4 billion provided capital for rent-restricted housing. 

This housing-first strategy was led by Michelle Herrick, who in October replaced the venerable Al Brooks as the firm’s new head of commercial real estate. Herrick said that J.P. Morgan made a conscious commitment to support housing over the last 12 months, keeping multifamily as the bank’s largest asset class, as it tried to do its part as America encounters a slow-rolling housing emergency. 

“We’re the largest CRE lender and have made a very real commitment to creating and preserving affordable housing in our local communities,” said Herrick, who noted the firm’s $6 billion of credit and equity investments contributed to either the creation or retention of 45,000 affordable units. “We are committed to continuing our role in addressing the housing gap in 2025 and beyond, particularly in light of the national shortage America is facing.”

Among the deals that defined the year for the bank were those that went far beyond typical multifamily or affordable financings. These included a $2.5 billion mortgage loan to build a two-building, 206-megawatt data center in Abilene, Texas; a $507 million construction loan to build a 457-unit mixed-use, luxury condo-hotel in Honolulu; and a $475 million loan to finance the construction of six data centers across the U.S. 

Brian Baker, global head of commercial mortgages, noted these deals came as the firm navigated a high interest rate regime for nine months of the year.  

“We made good credit decisions that turned out well, but at the same time the lights were always on,” said Baker. “As rates spiked, and different properties had challenges, clients found they could work with J.P. Morgan.”

This client-centered approach is the ethos of the firm, according to Herrick, who told CO, “It all starts with the client.” 

“Our focus over the past year has remained on providing our clients with consistency of capital and depth of product to better run their businesses,” she said. “We offer smart products across all sources of lending capital, and during periods of market volatility, this allows us to provide clients with a greater certainty of execution.”