Red Oak Capital Holdings Relocates and Expands in the Southeast

Red Oak Capital Holdings LLC, a commercial real estate finance company and Regulation A+ sponsor, announced the relocation and expansion of its corporate headquarters to the Southeast.

The commercial real estate finance company has also added four finance professionals to its new home base in Charlotte, North Carolina. The firm’s previous center of operations in Grand Rapids, Michigan will serve as its Midwest regional office.

“Charlotte has a top-ranked business climate and is now the country’s second-largest business and financial services hub. It also has a large, growing pool of skilled talent that’s attracted to the city’s quality of life and a robust pipeline of highly educated graduates,” says president and chief operations officer, Paul Cleary. “As such, we’re focused on building a sizable presence in the Charlotte area.”

Red Oak also announced a few new additions, including Jeff Joyner, who will serve as regional manager, Southeast. Charged with overseeing and developing Red Oak’s business efforts in the region, Red Oak says he is responsible for originating commercial real estate bridge loans, as well as cultivating and building deal relationships within the mortgage banking and brokerage community, across multiple states throughout the region.

Having closed more than $1.5 billion in loans throughout his 20-plus-year career, Joyner was most recently a commercial mortgage broker with JSJ Ventures, a CRE structured finance advisory. He has also served as Southeast region originations manager for Alliant Credit Union, vice president of capital markets with Truist Financial Corporation, and executive vice president of originations for A10 Capital, among other positions.

Thomas Gorski and Hermann Wendorff, who will serve as senior commercial real estate loan underwriters. They will be involved in all aspects of a proposed loan and evaluating loan opportunities, including the real estate collateral securing proposed loans, surrounding markets and demographic areas, as well as the adequacy of the loan structure of the transaction and/or relationship.

Gorski’s 15-year real estate and finance career experience spans multiple sectors, from asset-level financing to merger and acquisition advisory and the underwriting of publicly traded securities. He was previously a management consultant with Synado, following a role as director of investments for Thrive Senior Living. He has also held positions with Jefferies Financial Group and CBRE.

Wendorff joins Red Oak from Safe Harbor Financial and brings over 15 years of financial services experience that has encompassed origination and/or underwriting more than $1 billion worth of commercial loans. He has held positions with banks and financial institutions such as Finance of America Commercial, CU Business Group, Extensia Financial, University Federal Credit Union, Freedom Bank of Virginia, Virginia Heritage Bank and Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T).

Jesús R. Martínez will be a senior commercial real estate loan administrator, handling document collection, review and analysis to support Red Oak’s loan originators and underwriters. He was previously a paralegal in the banking and capital markets division of Parker Poe, where he assisted in drafting ancillary documents, commercial leases and loan modifications, reviewed and organized due diligence documentation, lending forms for banks and lenders, and handled other documentation. Prior to that, he spent several years as a real estate broker and senior loan officer with Brokers & Partners Real Estate, My Mortgage. Inc., and as a paralegal and mediator for several Florida law firms.

“As one of the nation’s premier providers of private capital solutions, it was imperative for Red Oak to establish operations in the region and tap into its vast talent pool,” relates Gary Bechtel, chief executive officer of Red Oak.

“The current state of the capital and financial markets has resulted in high demand for bridge lenders,” Bechtel adds. “Adding senior underwriters such as Thomas and Hermann, and a senior administrator like Jesus, all led by a seasoned industry vet like Jeff, will allow Red Oak to properly meet the growing demand for bridge loans nationally. We look forward to continuing our growth not only in the Southeast, but across our national platform.”

Red Oak Capital Holdings is a group of commercial real estate capital entities that lends and invests on commercial real estate, raising capital through retail and institutional channels. The firm has more than $400 million of assets under management and commitments from both retail and institutional investors.

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