Report Shows TIAA Top CRE Lender in Boston; East Boston Savings Lead Local Banks

BOSTON–The Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America, formerly known as TIAA-CREF, was the top commercial real estate originator in Boston for the first half of 2017, according to Credifi, the New York based company that provides loan and asset information to the Commercial Real Estate Finance industry. TIAA financed two loans worth a total of $515 million in that period: a $380 million loan for the Tishman Speyer-owned office building at 1 Federal St. in March and a $135 million loan in June for the luxury apartment complex Troy Boston, at 275 Albany St. TIAA was one of six non-bank lenders – almost all of them pension or insurance companies – to make the Boston top 10 in 2017 H1.

The No. 2 Boston lender for H1 was an insurance company, New York Life Insurance, which issued over $200 million in commercial real estate loans in the first half. As for top ranking banks, Wells Fargo was number three overall and lead the list of traditional banks, issuing over $100 million in CRE loans in Boston.

One statistical element of note was the high volume from non-bank lenders (per the Credifi report) being responsible for 34% of the loan amount originations by the top 20 Boston loan originators from H1 2016 to H1 2017, driven by a particularly high proportion of insurance and pension originations. The top local bank rankings showed East Boston Savings and Eastern Bank representing first and second place in CRE volume. Also of note, the San Francisco based, First Republic Bank has been very active and growing their platform in Boston, and making the ranks over the past 18 months; most recently with a $24.3 million loan originated in May for 40 Berkeley St. in Boston’s South End, an apartment building with a 168-room budget hotel on the ground floor.

You can read the Full Credifi Lending Spotlight Report HERE