In a national expansion effort, Barnett Capital just added Michael Wieden to the firm’s real estate finance and distressed debt solutions platform. A UW alum coming from nine years in commercial mortgage banking at Cohen Financial, Michael tells us Barnett’s focused on offering opportunistic bridge loans for real estate deals that need to close quickly. And as a liquid family office with no outside investor capital, it’s able to work outside of the box with deal structure, he says. What that looks like: short-term interim debt; cheap replacement of equity; helping borrowers reset their basis and work out distressed notes; and providing capital to investors that need to make an all-cash offer to win a deal.

Barnett started its lending practice three years ago and continues to see frustration in the market, along with a lack of trust and execution from banks and other lenders, Michael says. Recovery’s steady (evidenced by more off-market transactions), but the market’s not lacking in distressed deals that could use bridge financing. The firm’s completed more than 75 deals in the past few years and foreclosed on only one property to date, Michael tell us. Going forward, it's focused on deals ranging from $500k to $20M, across all product types. In addition to the new gig, don’t forget to congratulate Michael on his recent nuptials. He got married at the Thompson Chicago (above), its first wedding, two weeks ago.