Pillar charts 55% YoY gains under MF head Ed Hussey

When Ed Hussey joined Pillar in January of 2015 by way of Freddie Mac, he told Real Estate Capital that his main priority would be to “increase exposure to the multifamily sector, from small clients to institutional borrowers.”

Just over one-and-a-half years later, Hussey is making good on that goal, having exponentially grown the firm’s originations volume as head of the company’s Multifamily lending platform.

In the first half of this year the firm originated $800 million in loans compared with $515 million during the same period last year, a 55 percent increase.

The main driver behind the increase is the firm’s agency lending business, which Hussey sought to bolster when he joined the firm, having originated $500 million in Fannie Mae loans year-to-date compared to $200 million during the same period last year, and just under $150 million versus $65 million for Freddie Mac.

When REC caught up with Hussey last week, he said the forward deal pipeline is likely to include an additional $600 million in Fannie/Freddie originations by the end of August.

“It’s due to the maturing of our platform and some of people we added in specialized areas really hitting their stride,” Hussey said, noting that affordable housing, which the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has in many cases excluded from annual lending caps, has been a particularly strong focus area under the guidance of managing directors Andrew Weil and Justin Ginsberg.

“In order to grow and have a bigger voice as an up and coming lender, we made a decision in early 2015 to focus on these uncapped specialty areas, where our expertise could make a bigger impact,” he said.

He added that Art Tuverson’s hire has been a boon for the manufactured housing platform, having charted a tenfold increase in originations so far this year compared with last year.

Among recent deals, Tuverson in June closed $17.55 million in agency loans for the acquisition of The Palms of El Mirage MHC in El Mirage, Arizona, the refinance of Marysville MHC in Marysville, Michigan and the acquisition of Harbor Pines MHC located in Ridgeland, Mississippi.

Hussey meanwhile set the precedent for a robust pipeline going into the second half of the year when on July 1 he closed a 12.7 million Fannie Mae loan to refinance Hickory Creek East, a 144-unit apartment complex located in River Edge, Louisiana.

Pillar Multifamily, an affiliate of Guggenheim Partners, was started in 2010 and offers an array of financing solutions including small loan solutions, market-rate multifamily mortgages, bridge loans and credit facilities via Fannie, Freddie, HUD and CMBS. The lender is active across 20 US major markets.