CWCapital and Apartment Realty Advisors Form a JV National Debt Platform

Boston and Atlanta–CWCapital LLC and Apartment Realty Advisors (ARA) have formed ARA Finance—a joint venture of ARA and CWCapital. The national venture will provide a full range of mortgage finance services to ARA clients and will leverage CWCapital’s existing multifamily agency lending platform. Boston-based CWCapital is a licensed lender and servicer under Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (in select regions) and FHA.The venture marks the beginning of a new era for ARA which has, since its inception in 2003, focused solely on the brokerage of multihousing properties on behalf of an array of institutional, REIT, and private client sellers.“The formation of the venture is in response to our clients’ growing need for financing services,” says ARA’s chairman, Gary Kachadurian. He adds, “Our clients certainly had their pick of any multitude of financing platforms but they made it clear that they wanted ARA to provide the financing services. At the end of the day, this is a natural expansion of ARA’s platform where we’re enhancing our service delivery model to include the very critical financing component.”Kachadurian, along with principal Marc deBaptiste and COO Lisa Robinson were instrumental in forming the venture. ARA Finance loan originators are located across the country with key offices in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and Seattle. With the venture continuously expanding its multifamily platform, future growth is expected. Three CWCapital executives and three ARA executives who make up the executive committee will manage ARA Finance. The committee plans to recruit a seasoned multifamily lender/manager to serve as COO in Dallas, Houston or Denver. “The CW vertical integration strategy, in which we manage the loan process from application through underwriting and servicing, naturally leads us to new channels which bring us closer to multifamily owners,” says Michael Berman, president of CWCapital, further commenting on the joint venture.