CHICAGO—JLL officials said yesterday that the company will acquire Oak Grove Commercial Mortgage, LLC, which does business as Oak Grove Capital, to help grow its capital markets capability in the Americas. The St. Paul, MN-based Oak Grove provides debt financing for multifamily and seniors housing real estate, and its Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD/GNMA capabilities will expand JLL's market-rate, affordable and seniors housing and healthcare financing expertise. Officials expect the acquisition to close by year end.

“This is just one more way to service a client,” William Hughes, Newport Beach, CA-based senior vice president of Marcus & Millichap, tells GlobeSt.com. He was not involved in the deal. “Everyone has an interest in building relationships with clients across a number of clients' needs. This doesn't necessarily give them more capacity, but it does give them more control. They obviously wanted the lender in-house.”

“Oak Grove has built a superior reputation and is widely recognized as a leader in credit analysis, underwriting and risk management, as well as asset management and loan servicing,” says Greg O'Brien, JLL's chief executive officer, Americas. “Its complementary culture and deep client relationships will blend seamlessly as we partner together to create a focused approach in the multifamily sector.”

Led by David Williams, Kevin Filter, Brian Kelleher and Brian Ranallo, Oak Grove handles loans for properties across the nation in both core cities and secondary markets. As reported in GlobeSt.com, for example, it recently arranged an $82 million Fannie Mae loan for 33 West End Avenue Apartments, a 211-unit, mixed income high-rise on New York's Upper West Side. And Oak Grove also recently secured $23.2 million in Fannie Mae loans for Oak Residential Partners in its acquisition of Pine Tree Club Apartments and Westbrooke Village Apartments, two market-rate apartment communities in St. Louis.

Oak Grove officials add that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac routinely recognize the company as one of the nation's top affordable and seniors housing lenders. Most recently, Fannie Mae gave Oak Grove its 2014 Excellence in Asset Management award.

Once the acquisition is complete, all 120 Oak Grove employees from across the country will join JLL. The Oak Grove leadership team will then take an active role in leading JLL's multifamily business. Together, JLL and Oak Grove have more than $4 billion in annual originations and $14 billion in loan servicing.

“We are one of the few companies in the country to have deep, longstanding relationships with all of the multifamily finance agencies,” says Williams, chief executive officer of Oak Grove. “JLL has grown its mortgage production team significantly over the last five years and we intend to contribute further to that momentum as we work together to better serve the needs of our collective clients in the apartment and seniors housing sectors.”