Meridian doubles its business in three years.Today's Real Estate market is flooded with large, full-service brokerage firms full-service brokerage firm A brokerage firm that provides a wide range of services and products to its customers, including research and advice. Compare discount brokerage firm. . Among the masses few stand strong in our turbulent economy. While many sink in the strong currents of Real Estate tides, there are a small number that have been able to make a name for themselves, one of these being Meridian Meridian (mərĭd`ēən), city (1990 pop. 41,036), seat of Lauderdale co., E Miss., near the Ala. line; settled 1831, inc. 1860. Capital Group. Meridian, founded in 1991, has since grown from a small office in Brooklyn, NY to a nationwide player in the real estate arena. In the last five years the company has grown to seven offices zoning the country with locations in key cities in New York This List of the 62 cities in New York State, USA, is an alphabetic list that also gives the primary county in which each city is located. A
The most recent addition to the Meridian family has been their California office, located in Century City, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , the epicenter ep·i·cen·ter n. 1. The point of the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake. 2. A focal point: stood at the epicenter of the international crisis. of LA real estate. This office has followed in the wake of Meridian's Chicago office, which is just over a year old. The company has now situated itself to span across the country while building relationships that will in time span the globe. Although Meridian may be branching out, the growth of the company has remained organic. People from the home offices have gone out to start up the branch offices, allowing for the relationships within the company to remain solid and avoid becoming diluted di·lute tr.v. di·lut·ed, di·lut·ing, di·lutes 1. To make thinner or less concentrated by adding a liquid such as water. 2. To lessen the force, strength, purity, or brilliance of, especially by admixture. . "The strength of Meridian is in our people," states president Ralph Herzka. "Tpeople with our company care about their clients on a personal level--that's what makes us different." To date, Meridian is the largest Fannie Mae Fannie Mae: see Federal National Mortgage Association. lender. By completing the volume that they do, Meridian has positioned themselves in an optimal place for their borrowers of all sizes. They have specific departments dedicated to both small and large loans. The Capital Markets group forges strong relationships with Wall Street lenders, and although the group typically takes the lead in transactions in excess of $50 million, they also concentrate on smaller deals as well. However, Meridian is also the leading broker of small commercial mortgage loans in the country. In 2004, they closed more than 2,000 loans, each under $4 million. To keep up with industry trends, Meridian has also added a Construction Finance Group, offering specialized services and unique loan products. Meridian has been built on their ability to consistently give small business attention to their clients with large firm resources and expertise. For their large clients that have the ability to get things done quickly and for their smaller clients they have the leverage and relationships with the lenders that allow them to offer what no one else in the industry can. They offer a full array of choices on financing including, mezzanine loans A mezzanine loan is a relatively large loan, typically unsecured (ie., not backed by a pledging of assets) or with a deeply subordinated security structure (e.g., third lien on the property but non-recourse vis-a-vis the borrower). , bridge loans, refinancing Refinancing An extension and/or increase in amount of existing debt. and construction to name a few. On the tenth anniversary of Meridian's inception the company closed $2.6 billion, doubling that in the next year, they reached $4.8 billion. Maintaining its trend, Meridian jumped to $8.9 billion in 2003 and closed last year with $11.9 billion in business, positioning them as the third largest mortgage broker in the nation. They are on target to close $15 billion in 2005. This remarkable growth curve falls hand in hand with the company's rapid expansion in the last five years. |
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