ULI's Chris Terlizzi

PHILADELPHIA-The Urban Land Institute’s Philadelphia chapter recently had its first Urban Marketplace event, which brought together public and private development leaders discussing ways to revitalize both urban and suburban areas. Sustainability was a big topic at the event, especially energy use, said Chris Terlizzi, chairman of the chapter who is also a former Citizens Bank executive who specializes in finance. Earlier this summer, at BOMA’s annual convention here, Terlizzi spoke to GlobeSt.com about Urban Marketplace, finance and the market as a whole.

GlobeSt.com: Small deals are the ones that seem to be getting done today. Do you see that changing soon on the financing end?

Terlizzi: I formed a consortium of six community banks, and that was basically in response to the demonstrated need for senior-debt liquidity for stabilized assets that need between $20 million and $40 million, where there’s very little available today. Smaller banks, between $1 billion and $3 billion, really don’t have the access and the expertise on board to produce that kind of business. By acting as a correspondent for those banks, I’m able to find transactions that fit that space. There’s clearly a need. Right now the only deals that are getting done in any material volume are the deals that are below $20 million that a single bank can undertake on its own. There are precious few of those.