Tom Whitesell (left), Jason Baker (top right), Pat Crandell.
Thomas Whitesell, Jason Baker and Patrick Crandall
Head of debt investment; senior managing directors at Kennedy Wilson
More than two years after absorbing PacWest’s construction lending arm, Beverly Hills-based Kennedy Wilson is weathering myriad market forces to notch another big lending year.
Kennedy Wilson is on pace to exceed its 2024 origination volume of $3.6 billion despite encountering stubbornly high interest rates, tariffs, pullbacks from equity partners due to economic uncertainties, and increased competition from banks that have been returning to commercial real estate lending. With fewer borrowers seeking financing for construction projects due to cost unknowns, Kennedy Wilson has leaned into its existing borrower pool.
“We’ve had to really focus on our existing relationships and play up the fact that we know how to treat construction loan borrowers really well and work with them every step of the way,” Jason Baker said. “We’ve differentiated ourselves by not competing on price necessarily, but with really good service and certainty and getting to the closing line. And, then, more importantly, how we service and administer the loan after it closes and that project gets built.”
One of Kennedy Wilson’s largest deals of 2025 originated in Northern California: a $183 million construction loan in late June for R&V Management to develop a two-building multifamily project in south San Francisco.
The private lender has also been active in Southern California this year, providing $106.7 million of construction debt for a 385-unit multifamily project in Rancho Cucamonga and a $96.3 million loan for a 310-unit multifamily project in San Diego. It also supplied a $78 million construction loan for a planned 186-unit Santa Monica apartment complex, and $66.5 million financing to build a 156-unit Carlsbad multifamily development.
In the future, Kennedy Wilson is looking to scale its construction debt business within its Southern California backyard and nationally in a variety of sectors.
“We are very fortunate that we have capital partners that are committed to this business, and they’ve already said they want to dramatically increase the size of this platform,” Patrick Crandall said. “Our primary capital partners focus on residential, so we’d like to find capital partners that are interested in providing capital to other sectors of real estate, including industrial, hospitality, health care and self-storage.”
