SAN DIEGO-Who doesn’t love a good success story? Here is one that GlobeSt.com just exclusively learned. Meridian Capital Group LLC opened its office in Carlsbad, CA in May 2011. Less than one year later, its Carlsbad office has already originated more than $100 million in new mortgage financing on behalf of a broad array of clients secured by properties located throughout the US.

Meridian’s Carlsbad office is overseen by managing director, Seth Grossman, who returned to Meridian in May 2011 to form the new office and advance the firm’s geographic expansion in the west, particularly California. Grossman was previously employed at Meridian’s New York office, where he helped negotiate more than $3 billion in conduit and bank financing transactions.

The properties financed by Meridian’s Carlsbad office comprise a broad array of asset types, transaction structures and geographies, including a $46 million loan provided by a foreign bank for a four-property hospitality portfolio with over 900 rooms located in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas; a $21.2 million, 10-year, non-recourse Fannie Mae DUS loan provided by Beech Street Capital for the 94% occupied, 240-unit, class-A Lafayette Gardens multifamily property in Lafayette, LA;  a $17.8 million, 10-year CMBS loan for a 210,000-square-foot shopping center in Greenwood Village, CO; and a $9.3 million, 10-year CMBS loan for a 19-property multifamily portfolio located in Chicago.

In addition to those transactions, the office has also completed numerous transactions in California, including: a $3.2 million, seven-year mortgage provided by a local bank for a 36-unit multifamily property located in Los Angeles; a $1.4 million, five-year mortgage provided by a local bank for a 20-unit multifamily property located in Los Angeles: and a $1 million, five-year mortgage provided by a local bank for a six-unit multifamily property located in Beverly Hills.

According to Grossman, Meridian has broadened the scope of its loan origination platform by “winning new clients with portfolios located in California, as well as by engaging in dialogue with locally-based borrowers who have property holdings nationally.” He adds that “The diversity of the transactions completed by the Carlsbad office is a testament to the firm’s ability to leverage its strong reputation and deep industry knowledge to seamlessly execute nationally on financing transactions for all major property types through all the major lending channels available.”

Meridian, which has a longstanding office in Los Angeles, is actively working to augment both of its California offices by adding origination and placement talent. “While Meridian is a recognized national leader, in both dollar amount and transactional volume, we view the Western US market as underserved. We believe it presents the firm a terrific opportunity to replicate in this geography the success that it has had elsewhere,” adds Grossman.