Artisan, which was established to invest in value add debt and equity investments in select markets along the East Coast and Midwest, plans to use strategic alliances to originate less widely marketed transactions and will offer flexible investment structures based on risk and complexity, explains Granowitz, who serves as managing director.

Granowitz formed Artisan along with director David J. Domm, who worked with him at Praedium. Over the past 15 years, the pair managed the investment, financing, management and disposition of more than $1 billion in real estate assets throughout the US and Canada. Explaining the company's focus, Domm says, "There is currently too much equity capital chasing the same opportunities and there is less capital targeting complex and less obvious situations. Our strategic platform, structuring experience and relationships position us to source transactions that aren't efficiently accessed by the broader capital markets."

Hornig, CEO and president of the Quest Group LLC, says the move to commercial is all about meeting customer demand. "The middle market is vastly overlooked and underserved," he says. And he sees a definite potential profit in such a niche and the synergy of the residential and commercial strategies. "The large commercial brokerages focus on the top of the pyramid. The rest of the market is left behind and the result is unsatisfied clients and unsatisfactory leases for both tenant and landlord."