Meridian Capital Group

A commercial real estate finance, investment sales and retail leasing brokerage that Ralph Hertzka and Aaron Birnbaum co-founded in 1991.

The firm’s reach spans the country, with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Ohio and Florida.

Meridian is one of the country’s most active capital markets teams too. In 2019, Meridian closed more than 3,000 transactions with hundreds of lenders for $43 billion in transaction volume companywide.

Meridian told Commercial Observer its deal book breaks down into $25 billion in balance sheet deals, $9 billion in agency and $4 billion in CMBS, with the balance to REITs, specialty lenders, and others. Among its marquee deals in 2019, Meridian arranged the financing for Spitzer Enterprises’ 1.5 million-square-foot 420 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and also negotiated the $390 million refinancing provided by Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies to Slate Property Group and BentallGreenOak for Oriana at River Tower, the 38-story, 412-unit luxury property at 420 East 54th Street.