Adi Chugh

Adi Chugh’s Tyko Capital has been around for only 30 months, but the private credit lender has already earned a reputation as a lifeline for commercial real estate in South Florida.

Thanks to the backing of hedge fund Elliott Management, the firm has funded some of the region’s most high-profile developments, whilst many of its competitors have laid low in the face of elevated interest rates, unpredictable tariffs and ballooning construction costs. 

“I’ve been in the room when a lender changes the terms or backs out at the last moment,” said Chugh, who previously ran an advisory business. “We keep our word. We’re able to provide a quick and seamless process to close.”

On the construction front, Tyko deployed at least $2.3 billion in the past 18 months. These loans include $392 million for the long-awaited convention center hotel in Miami Beach, Related Group’s luxury condo waterfront projects in Brickell and Bal Harbour, as well as Terra’s three latest luxury condo projects. 

Just in January, Tyko supplied $410 million for Terra’s boutique luxury condo development in Coconut Grove, marking the biggest loan in the Miami neighborhood’s history. 

But Tyko doesn’t just exist in the construction space. The first loan it doled out went to 830 Brickell, Miami’s first stand-alone office building in a decade that broke leasing records thanks to new-to-market tenants such as Microsoft, hedge fund Citadel and law firm Sidley Austin. 

Although the $565 million refinancing loan was replaced by commercial mortgage-backed securities debt, late last year Tyko partnered again with one of 830 Brickell’s developers, OKO Group. The lender financed OKO’s $520 million acquisition of waterfront property that will be redeveloped into Aman condos and hotel rooms, effectively making the purchase Miami’s most expensive land acquisition. 

The firm has no plans to slow down, with billions in term sheets that are set to close in the coming months. “This is only the beginning,” Chugh said.