Keystone Equities Acquires Portfolio of Performing Loans from Cross River Bank for $217 Million

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Keystone Equities, a leading real estate private equity and private credit platform, has successfully acquired a $217 million portfolio of performing loans from Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a New Jersey State chartered FDIC-insured bank and Equal Housing Lender known for its Commercial Banking Group (CBG) and real estate lending platform. The loans are secured by assets located throughout New York City, further strengthening Keystone’s presence in the region. This transaction follows a series of recent strategic investments by Keystone, including a $53.5 million loan at 699 Columbia Street in Brooklyn, NY, and a $60 million acquisition of a non-performing loan in Stamford, CT.

Jonathan Zamir, CEO of Keystone Equities, commented on the acquisition: “This portfolio of high-quality, performing loans, originated by Cross River, aligns nicely with our investment strategy. Through our recent programmatic partnership with a major institutional group, we are poised to deploy meaningful dollars across the entire capital stack, including originating construction, inventory, stretch, and senior loans, as well as investing in preferred and traditional equity opportunities. In this period of reduced liquidity, we see a unique opportunity to deploy capital responsibly and capitalize on market inefficiencies. Our financial strength and surety of execution allow us to actively pursue high-value investment opportunities and continue expanding our presence.”

"Keystone Equities' ability to provide seamless execution is a testament to their high caliber team and industry know-how,” said Bhavik Khatri, Head of Syndications at Cross River. “We are thrilled to partner with Jonathan and the team as we continue to develop and expand our distribution channels with banks, private lenders, and institutional investors to deliver certainty of execution for our clients.”

“Our steadfast commitment to disciplined underwriting, high quality asset selection, active portfolio management, and best in class tech-enabled loan servicing allows us to offer our partners attractive risk-adjusted returns,” said Shimon Eisikowicz, EVP and Chief Lending Officer at Cross River.

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About Keystone Equities, LLC

Keystone Equities is a real estate private equity and private credit investment management firm with over $1.2 billion in real estate-related investments. The company seeks to generate exceptional, risk-adjusted, returns for its partners by blending a conservative investment philosophy with its creative and entrepreneurial approach. For more information, please visit www.KeystoneEquitiesLLC.com.

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 Commercial 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 (“HC”) team 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.