Al Brooks, Michelle Herrick, Brian Baker and Vince Toye

Outside of its CRE originations, the bank showcased its fortress balance sheet and bailed out First Republic Bank at the height of the regional banking turmoil in May — dare we say preventing a potentially even more arduous year for fellow honorees on this list, and their borrowers. 

Unlike several other banks, market dislocation and uncertainty created a once-in-a-cycle opportunity for JPMorgan to up the ante when it came to assisting its clients with large-scale, complex and challenging transactions. 

The bulk of the bank’s activity was dedicated to multifamily properties, with $4 billion of its $13 billion total going to properties with restricted rents. “We’re the biggest multifamily lender in the country, and we plan to continue to focus there,” Al Brooks said.

JPMorgan didn’t swerve away from the asset class that other lenders avoided like a duck family on a highway, however. “We were proud to be there for our clients in all asset classes — including office where we do a selective amount, although it’s still in the billions, comfortably,” Michelle Herrick said. “Certainly none of us anticipated valuation challenges to be this severe, but we are managing through it and continuing to support our clients.” 

Indeed, on the investment banking side, JPMorgan provided a $571 million loan to Hunt Realty and Goldman Sachs to finance the construction of Goldman Sachs’ fully pre-leased new Dallas headquarters, as well as a $455 million financing for Net Lease Office Properties to facilitate the spinoff of a majority of W.P. Carey’s net-leased office portfolio into a public REIT, plus a $300 million, five-year, fixed-rate, interest-only SASB CMBS transaction secured by City Center D.C, a trophy mixed-use complex in Washington, D.C., that includes two office buildings. 

The last deal marked the first office SASB since February 2022.

“We remained actively engaged and maintained capacity for our clients,” Brian Baker said. “We successfully executed some large deals, contributing to a meaningful year for both the firm and our clients.”

During a period when dependability was key, the bank stepped up to the plate. 

“Certainty of execution always matters, but in an environment where the lender list thins out, it becomes exceptionally important, because borrowers’ backup plans or alternatives aren’t as robust,” he said.  

Indeed, “we don’t go to market without knowing exactly what we can do, and what we can’t do,” Brooks said. “We’re very transparent with customers, who realize that we’re not going to do every deal every time, but we’ll make ourselves as useful as we safely can.” 

That usefulness translated to having a portfolio that includes plenty of the “trigger words” that made the market nervous: large loans, office, construction and floating-rate loans. “We’re secure in our strategy, due to twofold support. First, the balance sheet strength of JPMorgan Chase, and second, the financial health of our clients.,” Herrick said. “We feel very comfortable supporting our clients and their long view strategies, which align very well with ours.” 

The bank continued to  support the creation and preservation of affordable and workforce housing, with deals including a $29 million loan for Catchlight Crossing, an affordable housing project in Orlando, Fla., which made a considerable dent in the area’s low-income housing deficit and now serves as a template for other projects of its kind. 

Brooks gave a tip of the cap to Vince Toye, who leads the bank’s community development banking (CDB) business. “It’s a super important area for our firm that’s only going to become more important because of our aspirations to be in all 48 contiguous states,” Toye said. 

Over the year, CDB’s many deals included a $140 million Historic Tax Credit equity investment to support the preservation of Williamsburg Houses in Brooklyn.

As 2024 rolls along, Herrick is celebrating being promoted to deputy head of CRE at the bank, and Baker sees some green shoots in transaction activity. “The capital markets have a much more constructive tone,” Baker said. “We are anticipating a surge in activity following rate cuts, which is expected to unlock additional market activity.”