| There was a shift of mood at the Real Estate Lenders Association’s annual networking celebration last night at Club 101. Perhaps it was best described as guarded optimism, but it’s certainly better than the ’09 attitude, which some say was more "guard yourself, guard your assets, and leave behind women and children." |
| Bank of Ireland’s Christopher Niederpruem and Declan Meagher flank Amalgamated Bank's Paul Leprohon, Lloyds Banking Group’s Rosendo Molina, and Newmark Knight Frank’s Richard Cassin. A new year, a new position for Paul, who just started at Amalgamated this week as SVP (he was previously with RBS Citizens). He tells us that his bank is serious about putting out money this year—$10M to $15M in most sectors. And unlike last year, you can actually predict growth again, he says. |
| Do these smiling faces look like the hesitant lending community of ‘09? We snapped this of First American Title Insurance Co.’s Jeffrey Mitzner and John Kelley, Loan Resolution Advisors’ Jack Rosenfield, Ackman-Ziff’s Simon Ziff, and RAIT Financial Trust’s Ron Wechsler (of course, Jack could just be excited over planning his upcoming trip to Italy and France in the spring). Another trend we noticed: fewer people working the room, looking for jobs. Here’s to a continuous upswing, and we hope to remove the “guarded” from optimism by next January. |
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