Gianni Novo and Novo Capital Partners in Southern California had a good gig originating loans for real estate projects and investment properties and projects throughout the United States. But when Novo and his team saw an opportunity to access more resources and do more business, they took it.
Last week, the five-person team that led Los Angeles-based Novo Capital joined global brokerage CBRE, where it specializes in loan origination for several commercial property types. Novo, who founded Novo Capital in 2014, joined CBRE as a senior vice president.
Novo's teammates Devin Wash and Itzik Nassy joined CBRE as vice presidents, and Whitney Deutsch came aboard as an associate vice president and lead debt and structured finance analyst. Novo Capital's Sebastian Rodriguez now is a sales assistant at CBRE.
Novo and the colleagues who came with him are based in CBRE’s West Los Angeles office. Now they have a bigger network of connections.
"Our team will continue to specialize in mid-market and private capital lending opportunities across the multifamily, retail, industrial, and office sectors," Novo said in a LinkedIn post. "The CBRE platform will allow us to leverage more resources and provide access to more lending partners so we can continue providing exceptional client service."
Novo and his colleagues have joined CBRE during a time of flux in real estate capital markets. With the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate increases, the cost of borrowing money to fund acquisitions and new developments is expected to rise. Combined with the current high inflation rates, commercial property transaction velocity and capitalization rates already are likely to be affected.
2022 started off with a jump in debt activity at CBRE. During the first three months of 2022, CBRE-originated commercial loan closings in the U.S. increased 69% year over year and 5.5% quarter over quarter, according to the CBRE Lending Momentum Index.
Before he founded Novo Capital, Novo served as a managing director at New York-based Silverthread Capital, where he ranked as the firm’s top producing loan originator. He also worked as a senior director of capital markets at Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance.
Novo started his commercial real estate career as a loan originator assistant at Marcus & Millichap.