A new commercial real estate lender is looking to enter the space, and it has hired a former broker with experience generating loans.

Eric Tanjeloff, who co-founded CBRE Capital Advisors and has been head of real estate for Melody Capital Partners since 2014, was hired to launch White Oak Real Estate Capital, a subsidiary of White Oak Global Advisors, the company announced.

San Francisco-based White Oak has financed over $8B in loans for small and midsized businesses since it was founded in 2007, according to its website, nearly $3B of which were originated last year. White Oak Real Estate Capital will seek out deals between $25M and $150M in acquisition loans, construction loans, bridge loans and value-add loans for real estate companies across a variety of asset classes, according to the release.

“White Oak has a track record of reliable execution and consistent results and has the opportunity to help the commercial real estate sector grow and recover at a time when more investment is needed to stabilize the industry,” Tanjeloff said in a statement.

Among White Oak's recent non-real-estate deals were a $75M loan to Goldman Sachs Asset Management healthcare subsidiary Advanced Recovery System and a $278M loan to GFG Liberty Steel in May. The company also lent funds to DW Healthcare Partners for its purchase of animal health company Parnell Pharmaceuticals Holdings in March.

While White Oak has financed real estate deals before, this will be its first affiliate dedicated solely to commercial real estate.

Tanjeloff was managing director and head of real estate investments at Melody Capital Partners from 2014 until he took up his new role at White Oak in June, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also served as a board member of Affinity Gaming and was the executive director of real estate and lodging investment banking at JPMorgan Chase.