NorthMarq Expands Multifamily Financing Effort

Thurston

SAN FRANCISCO-The local office of NorthMarq has hired multifamily and commercial financing experts Mitch Thurston and Andy Ahlers in an expansion of its professional staff to a total of nine debt/equity producers and an emerging investment sales practice. The addition of Thurston and Ahlers is the second expansion in recent months for the San Francisco NorthMarq office, which is led by EVP/senior managing director Jeffrey Weidell and recently hired SVP and senior managing director Mike Federle to build its investment sales practice.

Thurston and Ahlers bring extensive lending experience with Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, life companies, banks, and others, according to a NorthMarq announcement. The two come to the company from Berkadia, where they had been longtime top producers for it and its predecessor companies GMAC and Capmark.

Ahlers

Thurston tells GlobeSt.com that he and Ahlers are joining NorthMarq at a time when, although the government-sponsored agencies remain the biggest players in multifamily finance, life companies are getting back into the game. "The life companies had been a player, then they dropped out the last couple of years, and now they are becoming a force again," he observes.

Thurston says that he and Ahlers have done business throughout the US, although generally their marketing efforts and their business are concentrated in the the Western US. "It generally follows borrower relationships," he says. Right now, most of the multifamily action is in refinancing, he says, but sales have been picking up somewhat after falling off sharply after the downturn.

NorthMarq is an original Freddie Mac Program Plus Seller/Servicer and with Fannie Mae DUS through its relationship with AmeriSphere Multifamily Finance, a related company. Weidell commented on the new hires: "While our office already offered quality expertise in apartment financing, this addition makes us stronger and deeper in arranging debt and equity capital for multifamily owners and developers.”

Thurston, senior vice president/managing director, and Ahlers, vice president, completed more than $300 million in debt and equity transactions in 2010. Since 2005, the team has closed over $3 billion in multifamily and commercial loans for borrower clients on the West Coast.