Focus on strong credit culture enabled robust pipeline and impressive portfolio management, showcasing resilience in turbulent market

Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a New Jersey State chartered FDIC-insured bank and Equal Housing Lender known for its diversified commercial real estate (“CRE”) lending program and deep market experience, finished 2023 with impressive year-over-year (YOY) origination growth across multiple asset classes. The Group’s Lender Finance, Construction and Healthcare teams achieved 48 percent, 34 percent and 16 percent YOY growth in originations, respectively. Combined, the team, a division of the newly rebranded Commercial Banking Group, originated $803 million across 68 loans nationwide for various asset classes.

“This past year, our team capitalized on opportunities in the market, highlighting our capabilities in adapting to evolving trends and challenges, while maintaining a keen focus on credit culture, high-quality asset selection and active portfolio management,” said Shimon Eisikowicz, EVP and Chief Lending Officer at Cross River. “We remain committed to strategically tailoring financing that allows us to meet the needs of our borrowers, while maintaining a strict underwriting discipline.”

The Lender Finance division closed out strong on the year, touting 48 percent YOY growth in originations with $105 million in key originations during the final week of December alone. To continue the momentum and support plans to scale further in 2024, the team added Tim Wolf as the Director of Lender Finance. Wolf brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and will serve an instrumental position helping the team increase loan growth.

As part of the Construction Lending team’s 34 percent YOY origination growth in 2023, loans were made to facilitate the development of apartments under NYC's affordability programs including: the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, the FRESH (Food Retail Expansion to Support Health) initiative, Brownfield development projects, and Community facility spaces, such as charter schools, medical offices, etc. The team originates and services construction and bridge loans for ground-up construction, renovation, land acquisition and partially or fully vacant properties across the tri-state area.

The Group’s Healthcare Lending team, which originates and services healthcare financing solutions with a focus on term loans and bridge loans, achieved 16 percent YOY origination growth due to the strength of the existing portfolio and by concentrating on the core product of first mortgage loans to facilities and housing properties. This strategy was part of efforts to focus on facilities in states with strong reimbursement programs.

“Looking ahead this year, we are strategically scaling our business and broadening our capabilities,” Eisikowicz added. “Our ability to continue growing is thanks to the dedication and monumental achievements of our team, and I am excited to build on our strong foundation.”

Over the last decade, the CRE team at Cross River has led with a customer-first approach and successfully grown offerings to include commercial real estate, healthcare lending, construction, bridge loan and lender finance platforms. Now, as the Commercial Banking Group (CBG), the team is further expanding to serve a broader audience of borrowers and depositors with more offerings, including banking services for real estate customers, as well as other related clients and partners.

About Cross River Commercial Banking Group 

Cross River’s Commercial Banking Group (“CBG”) assists property owners, investors, brokers, and institutions in identifying and accessing the right loan and banking products. The Group leverages technology coupled with a streamlined approval process, often resulting in more expeditious closing times and specializes in the following loan and asset classes:

The Real Estate (“CRE”) division focuses on the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania metro areas servicing a variety of asset classes and loans ranging from $250,000 to more than $100 million. Asset classes include multifamily, retail, mixed-use, commercial, industrial, fractured condos, co-ops and investment properties. The CRE division also originates and services construction and bridge loans for ground-up construction, renovation, land acquisition, and partially or fully vacant properties.

The Group’s Lender Finance (“LF”) platform is designed to reach an expanded national audience, complementing Cross River’s existing commercial real estate business providing note-on-note and warehouse lines of credit to bank and non-bank lenders and partners in all 50 states.

The Group’s Healthcare Lending team (“HC”) focuses on term loans and bridge loans secured by various types of healthcare properties nationally. Cross River’s Commercial Banking Group serves as a strategic partner to other banks and non-banks in real estate syndications. To learn more, please visit www.crossriver.com.

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