Case Capital's JV With NY RE Credit Fund Already Bearing Fruit

Sandy Herrick, founder and CEO, Case Real Estate Capital

ROCHELLE PARK, NJ—Case Real Estate Capital’s  new joint venture with a New York-based real estate credit fund is already bearing fruit, according to Sandy Herrick , founder and managing principal of Case . The partnership recently acquired about $3 million in bank loans covering a condominium apartment properties and a non-performing loan secured by a private estate in New Jersey, and has other deals in the pipeline. Herrick tells GlobeSt.com exclusively that the joint venture will allow Case to ramp up its investment activities for deals in the $1.5 million to $30 million range for transitional assets. He declined to name the real estate credit fund because of a non-disclosure agreement. “It will be the primary vehicle” for Case investments going forward, Herrick says. “The principal of the real estate credit fund is someone I started doing business with 15 years ago. We’ve known each other during up and down times. When I started Case at the beginning of 2013, the head of this fund, either personally or for the fund, invested in every deal that we offered him. About four or five months ago, we decided that we should be exploring a bigger venture together.” The joint venture will enable Case to invest in “both larger deals and more profitable deals,” Herrick says. The venture has a maximum dollar investment, and then rolls to another fund, Herrick says. “We contribute a set dollar amount, and then we go on to the son of this fund, and then the grandson of the fund, and the great-grandson of the fund.” “The venture will rely on Case’s mid-market expertise and local knowledge,” says Herrick . The venture will continue Case’s efforts as an active high-yield private lender, a purchaser of sub- and non-performing debt, and an equity investor. “This joint venture vehicle gives us the ability to be more aggressive in securing deals. We expect to be able to lower borrowing costs and raise purchase prices where and when appropriate.” Case provides what it describes as “smart situational capital” to the  middle market. Its funds are typically deployed as note purchases in addition to bridge and acquisition loans or rescue and restructure capital. The firm provides dependable financing solutions for a range of transitional properties, including industrial, multi-family, retail, land and office assets. It is based in northern New Jersey. “It’s what I’ve been doing for decades,” he says of the focus on transitional assets. “Something that is value-add, something that is being acquired and needs money to get fixed up, that needs money for architects, engineers and professionals, or the purchase of a non-performing loan, where something is broken and we have to go in and fix it, or help the borrower fix it.”