Justin Wheeler, CEO of Berkadia
NEW YORK CITY—Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway and Jefferies Financial Group joint venture, has acquired Central Park Capital Partners, a boutique real estate brokerage focused on arranging joint venture investments and structured capital from international and domestic institutional and qualified capital sources. Berkadia declined to disclose terms of the deal including the amount paid for the advisory firm or its assessed value.
But as to Berkadia, in 2018 the company completed over $34 billion in combined mortgage banking and investments sales across more than 1800 transactions. In addition, its website states it is the largest non-bank commercial mortgage servicer in the nation.
CPCP's founder and managing principal Noam Franklin and principals Chinmay Bhatt and Cody Kirkpatrick are launching Berkadia's structured capital group. A spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that the group “is active immediately and already working closely with teams across Berkadia on potential opportunities.”
Berkadia CEO Justin Wheeler states the new team will increase access to joint venture and structured capital for clients. “As the cycle matures and deal structures become more sophisticated, tapping into a wide range of joint venture capital is critical to our clients,” he says. “Having worked with Noam, Chinmay and Cody on a number of successful deals, CPCP was the obvious choice for a competitive acquisition.”
Franklin and Bhatt will be based in Berkadia's New York City headquarters at 521 Fifth Ave. Kirkpatrick will work from the Denver, CO office at 1331 17th St.
Noam Franklin, founder and managing partner of Central Park Capital Partners/ Photo by Dana Cubbage Weddings
“We've been working closely with the Berkadia team recently and have been impressed that they share our targeted approach to client engagement and deal execution,” says Franklin. “We have strong domestic and international capital relationships, particularly in the Middle East, Canada, Europe and Asia.”
In joining Berkadia, Franklin emphasizes that CPCP brings a diverse roster of new capital sources to the table, enhancing joint venture matchmaking opportunities.
“Considering current market conditions, owners and developers are looking beyond their traditional partners and seeking to grow their stable of joint venture funding sources in order to capitalize deals,” he states.
Examples of CPCP's recent deals include brokering a $40 million short-term mortgage provided by Emerald Creek Capital for Emmut Properties' hotel at 138 Bowery in Manhattan. This deal was reported in November 2018 in Commercial Observer. CPCS arranged for Prescient to receive financing provided by Santander and Citizens Bank, with equity capital from Parse Capital to build the developer's tallest project. Generation Atlanta is a 17-story, 336-unit, multifamily building using proprietary modular construction. Prescient had issued a May 2018 press release.
Franklin, Bhatt and Kirkpatrick were the extent of the CPCP hires. But Berkadia “certainly is in the market for talented professionals to add to the team,” according to the company spokesperson.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
