Bridgeway in Action!
The Bridgeway in Action! series presents our impact through the lens of the people we serve (our clients) while highlighting the tools (our loans and programs) and the Bridgeway team members who support them along their business growth journey.
For today’s spotlight, we chatted with Bridgeway’s Commercial Real Estate Loan Officer Carlos Hackett about the flexibility of Construction and Renovation Loans and how this loan product helped BUILD Community Development Corporation (BUILD CDC) preserve a longstanding community building and add affordable housing to Erie’s Eastside.
Four Questions with Carlos Hackett
As Commercial Real Estate Loan Officer, Carlos helps loan applicants navigate the process of acquiring real estate for small businesses, nonprofit facilities, and affordable housing. He builds meaningful relationships with clients and communities to provide the capital needed to transform real estate opportunities into community assets. Carlos loves serving his neighbors by connecting them with resources to revitalize their hometowns.
Here’s how Carlos worked with BUILD CDC to help complete their redevelopment project in Erie’s Eastside.
What’s your first conversation with a potential client? What kind of information are you looking for?
Bridgeway is a mission-based lender, so we want to really make sure the project is going to help the community. With every deal we receive, we ask: How is it going to impact the community? Secondly, we want to really understand the scope of what the borrower is looking to do. We want to make sure there’s enough funding to finish the project, so that they have everything they need to get up and running. With BUILD CDC’s construction and renovation loan, they were seeking gap funding: the final piece of the capital stack puzzle.
Why might clients come to Bridgeway instead of a traditional lender?
One of the advantages of working with Bridgeway is our ability to structure loan terms around the realities of a project. With a construction and renovation loan like BUILD CDC’s, for example, we can provide multiple loan draws so borrowers only pay interest on the funds they have actually used. We can also offer an initial interest-only period during construction. We understand that to build something takes time and we provide some patience until revenue starts coming in.
With traditional lenders, there’s not a lot of wiggle room. You have to show a certain number of years in business, a certain level of revenue, and if you don’t meet those benchmarks, the answer is often simply no. At Bridgeway, it doesn’t work that way. We review every application because we want to understand what our clients are trying to accomplish and whether the numbers support the project, not just whether they fit a predetermined formula. Even for the unfunded projects, we are still considering the borrower’s best interests. We want our clients to be in a position where they can succeed.
That’s a great point — you’re not going to lend just because you can.
I have a client with an existing business who wanted to buy a much bigger, multi-use building. We talked and I explained that based on the projected cash flow, there would not be enough revenue coming in to pay off that debt at a healthy rate. I connected the client to our Programs Team to help her fine tune her business plan. That’s what we do. We look for ways to help. Traditional lenders don’t usually take the time to do that.
What about BUILD CDC felt like a good fit?
This project is a mission slam dunk! It’s real estate revitalization! It’s creating new affordable housing units! It’ll bring a new retail outlet to the building’s ground floor. And, it has enabled Bridgeway to build a meaningful partnership with a local community-focused nonprofit. BUILD CDC just needed a little more capital to get to the finish line. We saw it as the first step of building a bigger long-term relationship. We love to do that.
Featured Client:
BUILD CDC’s Laura Guncheon with Carlos Hackett at the loan closing
Learn More
Read our article Affordable Housing—and so Much More—in Erie’s Eastside to learn more about BUILD CDC.
Bridgeway Capital works with developers and nonprofits to build spaces that serve communities. Reach out today to see how Bridgeway can help advance your project.