Hahn tells GlobeSt.com that his main goal right now is to tapinto the growing retail market in Ohio. "There's some deals in thehopper, but nothing we can specifically mention right now. We'retalking with several companies about some retail deals. There are afew retail constructing projects in the market."

Bob Leonard, senior director of the Farmington Hills, MI-basedMichigan office, says Ohio was a natural extension of the Michiganoffice, which is a subsidiary of the main iCap firm based inWoodlands, Texas. The entire company originated more than $2.3billion in commercial real estate loans in 2006, while the Michiganoffice handled about $400 million. About 60 percent of the firm'sdeals have been outside of Michigan, Leonard says. "Ohio is such animportant market for us, it's right next door, and we felt itwarranted us having an active presence to call on the majorcompanies there," he says. "Our Michigan office is doing well, eventhe state is holding up fairly well. You hear the horror stories,but the cap rates are higher, and you have out-of-state firmscoming in to buy property."

The company is on a growth tear, as it opened a new GrandRapids, MI office in March. David Brockmyre is the director of thatoffice. In December, the company closed almost $52 million in threetransactions on behalf of two different borrowers in the GrandRapids area, including the 360,000-sf Waters Building and the150,000-sf International Paper industrial/office facility.