In 2010, Ben Orlofsky and Eric Orlofsky founded Center Street Capital LLC. ("CSC"), a commercial real estate firm whose business activities encompass real estate finance and investments. CSC's honesty and integrity in its business dealings, combined with its work ethic and dedication to clients and investors, has quickly earned it a reputation of being proficient closers who get deals done.
Prior to founding CSC, Ben and Eric were managing directors at The Orlo Fund, a successful real estate brokerage and investment group. There they placed over $750 million of debt to facilitate the purchase and refinance of commercial real estate properties. Their intimate involvement with each deal has enabled them to enjoy deep-rooted relationships with a host of lending institutions, including banks, insurance companies, securitized lenders, GSEs, FHA, and credit unions. In addition to the conventional lending sources, they readily placed nonconventional debt, much of which they funded internally or took a B-piece position behind other bridge lenders.
Through their finance activities, they encountered many opportunities to place preferred equity and began investing alongside owner operators and developers with family money and a small group of high net worth individuals. The acquisitions and equity infusions were mostly in multi-family assets located in New York, Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, and Georgia. Ben and Eric spearheaded the preferred equity raises for these transactions and oversaw investor relations. In addition, Eric and his team formed and operated Gorman Management LLC, which managed over 3,500 multi-family apartment units. Notably, many of the assets under management were initially distressed and Gorman successfully stabilized them.
In a short span, CSC has enjoyed much success, as the partners have closed over $450 million in loans for their clients. Their impressive performance and execution has enabled them to expand their lending and equity sources, and they continue to provide paramount service to their clients and investors.
Who WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Conventional Debt Placement: Over the past five years we have placed over 500 million dollars in permanent financing for properties across the country, tailored to each borrower’s needs, risk tolerance, strategy, and projected holding period. We intimately know our lenders’ corporate culture and have consistently been the largest broker with those lenders that close as quoted. What sets us apart from other commercial real estate brokers is our understanding of real estate from a purchaser’s, seller’s, and management’s perspective, as we have purchased, sold, held and managed substantial real estate holdings. In addition, regardless of where the property is located, we make it our duty to be at the site during the appraisal, and if need be the engineering and environmental inspections. This mitigates the potential for reports that could jeopardize achieving the desired loan terms. Lastly, since we are attorneys by training, we have a thorough legal understanding of real estate transactions. Through our experience in all of these capacities, we are better able to assess a property and the loan it could support, and we can foresee and preemptively resolve and overcome potential obstacles that the lender, appraiser, PCNA or environmental report may raise.
Bridge Financing: We have arranged over 100 million dollars of bridge financing. Often, while arranging bridge financing we concurrently secure conventional financing to commence when the bridge loan expires.
Preferred Equity Placement: CSC sources preferred equity for large real estate corporations to facilitate their real estate acquisitions. Our strong relationships with high net worth individuals and funds enable CSC to tap into moneys that may be inaccessible to others.
Acquisition of Non Performing Loans and REOs: Over the past five years, we have participated in the purchased over 100 million dollars worth of NPLs, each note ranging from 1 million to as much as 36 million dollars. Most of the loans were paid back as contemplated, while others went into default and resulted in us foreclosing, stabilizing, and managing the property.