Amherst Capital Management, a real estate credit investment specialist and BNY Mellon Investment Management boutique, announced on Monday the addition of two seasoned real estate finance executives to lead the development of its Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending business. Christopher T. Kelly was appointed Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending, and Abbe Franchot was named Head of Originations.
“We are thrilled to announce the launch of our CRE Lending platform and expanded offerings on the alternative side of our business,” said Sean Dobson, CEO of Amherst Capital. “Chris and Abbe are exceptional real estate finance professionals and terrific additions to the Amherst Capital team.”
As Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending for Amherst Capital, Chris is responsible for leading all facets of the CRE middle-market Lending business, and targeting mortgage investments in all types of commercial and for-rent residential real estate assets. In this role, Chris will oversee the origination and qualification of potential investment opportunities and drive the underwriting process of CRE transactions, including cash flow modeling, asset valuation and debt structuring, additionally, he will provide oversight for Amherst Capital’s overall CRE loan portfolio performance and asset quality.
“The ability to participate in the initial growth and development of a new private debt origination business for Amherst Capital with the support of BNY Mellon and Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company presents a unique and compelling opportunity,” said Chris Kelly, Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending at Amherst Capital. “We believe that the combination of Amherst Holdings’ deep mortgage expertise, proprietary data and analytics with the strength of BNY Mellon’s infrastructure, places Amherst Capital in a sector-leading position out of the gate.”
Chris has 28 years of experience in real estate debt, mezzanine and equity markets. Prior to joining Amherst Capital, he led the national real estate lending business at CapitalSource, a division of Pacific Western Bank, as a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate.
As Head of Originations, Abbe will lead a team of originators that will source investment opportunities. Abbe previously worked alongside Chris at CapitalSource, where she was responsible for providing debt solutions to CRE owners and investors nationwide as a senior member of the originations team.
Amherst Capital’s CRE Lending team will initially focus on strategies providing interim floating rate debt for property acquisitions or recapitalizations with a value-add or opportunistic investment plan.