Mark Talgo
Senior Managing Director at New York Life Real Estate Investors
Last year's rank: 39
Versatility propelled New York Life Real Estate Investors to a robust 2020, amid challenging market conditions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company achieved $5.6 billion in total transaction volume for the calendar year, including $1 billion in CMBS, focused on a variety of asset classes in the early part of the health crisis, when much of the market was sidelined. Its notable deals included a $500 million loan to a major U.S. pension fund secured by a portfolio of industrial properties; a $259 million bridge loan secured by a multi-state industrial portfolio; and $112 million of construction financing for a San Diego multifamily asset.
“Throughout the pandemic, we were still actively trying to find investment opportunities through our various platforms,” said Mark Talgo, who considers last year’s volume a success, despite dropping from $10 billion in 2019, given the broader market challenges. “We remained very active, focused on the areas where there was activity, particularly in multifamily.”
Industrial and multifamily comprised 75 percent of New York Life’s lending activity. The firm’s diversified funding sources enabled it to meet market demand for floating-rate loans, which represented 65 percent of debt transactions.
Talgo said the flexibility of its financing business, with options for short-term, long-term, fixed-rate, floating-rate and construction lending, paid dividends during a period of economic uncertainty.
“If we were a one-dimensional lender, where all we did was long-term, fixed-rate financing, we would have been much more limited,” Talgo said.
New York Life Real Estate Investors was also focused last year on expanding programs aimed at attracting diverse talent. It created a diversity and inclusion committee to build industry awareness of its diversity efforts, and launched an initiative to educate minority college students about potential career paths in real estate.—A.C.
