Meridian works on its reach.

Commercial real estate remains a favorite among investors and lenders, and continued low interest rates and diversified financing trends have created an ideal environment for mortgage brokerage firms to expand their activity in this arena, according to Aaron Birnbaum, executive vice president of Meridian Capital Group, LLC.

To this end, the 13-year-old New York City company--known for its work in the multi-family sector--has for the past 36 months focused on increasing its involvement in office and retail financing.

"We are working largely with Wall Street firms and insurance companies to provide securitized financing and structured loans to a range of clients," explained Birnbaum, who leads Meridian's commercial division. Since early 2000, the firm has completed some $3 billion in commercial loans for properties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida. Several key transactions closed during 2003.

Among them, Meridian recently orchestrated a $102 million refinance with Morgan Stanley for 609 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan, on behalf of Jeff Sutton, the building's owner. Sutton originally purchased the 150,000 s/f flagship property for $65 million in 2002, in a joint venture with the Blackstone Group. Meridian arranged the first mortgage for the acquisition, as well as a refinance in 2003, which enabled Sutton to buy out the Blackstone Group. The buy-out was in conjunction with the retail being repositioned and leased to American Girl, a division of Mattel, Inc.

"Jeff Sutton is known in Manhattan as a savvy investor who owns dozens of retail and office properties," Birnbaum said. "In the case of 609 Fifth Ave., he took advantage of the current climate to opportunistically purchase and turn around a great building. The progress of the property during the past year illustrates the way that strong financing packages are enabling investors like Jeff to purchase larger and higher profile properties than ever before."

With a loan per s/f of $680, the 609 Fifth Ave. transaction illustrates the aggressive lending opportunities for class A properties.

In another transaction, Meridian completed a $120 million loan with UBS Warburg on a midtown class A office building for one of the most prominent real estate families in New York. The 600,000 s/f building achieved highly competitive pricing due to its low-leverage nature.

"Large amounts of capital and ample flexibility define today's lending arena, as these transactions indicate," Birnbaum said. "At the same time, in an emerging trend, low interest rates are spawning an increase in forward commitments."

For example. Meridian arranged a $140 million, 12-month forward commitment on three retail locations in New York, Chicago and Beverly Hills for Barney's.

"All of the stores are situated in highly fashionable areas of these cities, which heightened their appeal for lenders," Birnbaum explained. "We expect a significant amount of growth in this sector of the mortgage banking industry during the next year."