In this series, Make Yourself At Home, we are hearing from members of the commercial real estate industry about how they are managing this new reality and gaining insight into their day-to-day approaches. You can subscribe on iTunes and Spotify.

In this episode, Bisnow speaks with Melissa Burch, the executive general manager of Lendlease's New York development. The Australian construction giant has been working to expand its development platform in the United States for the last few years.

It developed luxury condo tower 277 Fifth Ave. with Victor Group, and its next project is 100 Claremont Ave. in Morningside Heights, a 42-story tower with 156 condominiums that Lendlease is building with L + M Development Partners.

The companies recently secured $250M in construction financing from Barings for the project, and Burch spoke on the podcast about inking the deal in the middle of the pandemic crisis in New York City.

“It was certainly not easy, we are in a very disrupted world for capital markets … It took a lot of creativity to figure out how to get everyone across the line," she said. “Barings really remained committed when many financing entities were canceling deals, and stopping deals in their tracks.”