Jamie Henderson and Kate Byford
Head of Commercial Real Estate; Head of Agency Finance at Capital One Bank
Last year's rank: 37
Capital One Bank had a record year in 2021, with total originations of $38.8 billion.
The McLean, Va.-based bank adapted to the market by rolling out a bridge-to-agency program in 2021. Between March 2021 and March 2022, Capital One completed 27 transactions with 15 different clients through the program, totaling about $1.42 billion.
Notable transactions included a $154 million bridge-to-agency loan sponsored by RXR for the acquisition of a 1.1 million-square-foot, full-block development in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood; and a $34 million bridge-to-agency loan sponsored by Trion Properties to acquire a 197-unit apartment community in Carmichael, Calif.
“As we try to diversify geographically, we’re also diversifying by asset classes,” said Jamie Henderson. “We opened offices in San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago and Boston. We also launched a manufactured housing strategy on our balance sheet, and we have a whole series of specialty types of real estate in our pipeline that we’re trying to launch one per quarter.”
Additionally, the bank leaned into data and insights to inform its expansion. Harnessing the data that it controls is a big part of Capital One’s strategy. “We can extract pretty unique insights as compared to peer banks,” Henderson added.
As a top-six agency lender, the bank has a $50 billion agency business, which makes Capital One the highest-ranked bank among government-sponsored enterprise lenders. The bank also has a dedicated debt fund strategy that provides leverage to non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs).
Also, in 2021, Capital One joined forces with Project Destined to mentor a team in the program’s real estate competition. Project Destined’s mission is to help diverse youth become owners and stakeholders in the communities in which they live, work and play by providing them the opportunity to learn from and engage with developers, operators, agencies, brokers and lenders within commercial real estate.
In addition to coaching the team throughout the competition, Capital One also hired two participants at the conclusion of the program. —E.F.
