Robert Schwartz and Joshua Crane

S3 Capital has carved a niche in multifamily construction lending over the past 13 years that culminated in a banner year for the non-bank lender in 2025, with $2.6 billion in total origination across 137 construction and development loans.

“Market dynamics have given us a meaningful tailwind,” Robert Schwartz said. “While a significant amount of capital has flowed into the bridge lending space, regional banks have been far less active in construction. That has opened up more opportunity for lenders like us and enabled us to considerably increase our market share.”

S3 has nearly doubled its origination volume each year for three consecutive years. Schwartz attributed it to their relationships with developers, over 50 percent of which are repeat borrowers. Schwartz noted S3’s book of over 200 active construction loans is still growing, with $4.2 billion in assets currently under management.

The company’s vertically integrated lending model, in which in-house construction and lending teams work alongside borrowers, has also won the confidence of investors. 

“Our fully integrated lending model gives us real-time visibility into what’s happening on-site and the ability to act quickly, pivot, and work with borrowers to find solutions,” Schwartz said.

That strategy has been proven out in the 820 loans with an aggregate volume of over $8.3 billion since the firm’s inception, he noted.

In the last year, Schwartz and fellow founder Joshua Crane led transactions such as a $300 million construction loan in Astoria, Queens, for a 26-story tower and three additional mid-rise buildings totaling 731 units, and a $255 million construction loan in Edgewater, N.J., for a 25-story apartment tower with 381 units.

S3 works extensively in New York, which aligns well with the firm’s background in providing loans for public-private development. 

“Mayor Mamdani’s goal of building 200,000 affordable units over the next decade speaks to the scale of the housing need in New York. We believe S3 is well positioned to support that effort given our long track record of financing public-private developments,” Crane noted. “We are excited to provide the capital that will help bring the next wave of housing supply online and thereby meaningfully support the city’s affordability goals.” 

The firm has recently made a strategic push into Texas. It closed its first deal in the Dallas-Forth Worth area in 2025, and has three additional projects in the pipeline. It’s also growing across the Sun Belt with a presence in Florida, the Carolinas and Nashville. It plans to enter Philadelphia in 2026.

S3 has worked on close to 300 public-private projects across the country and has financed some 3,600 units of affordable housing across some of the markets that need it most in New York and New Jersey.