If you think of owning retail property in terms of a glass filled with water, the investor and developer think it’s half full and the lender thinks it’s half empty. This according to West Bay Capital manager Edward Marek (here with associates Darren Hill, Mike Poyer and Kevin Prince), whose California-based lending and advisory firm is keeping the glass completely full in Texas. Ed tells us that West Bay Capital is both a lender and an owner of retail, so they understand the market extremely well and can make the deals work that other lenders can’t. The solution: Be more aggressive than most lenders by looking at a deal through the eyes of an investor as well as a lender. Also: Give the borrower credit for creating value before the value is actually realized through good-faith underwriting and the borrower’s track record. The projects West Bay has been funding on the West Coast are repeated in Texas: Buyers having a difficult time obtaining traditional loans from banks and insurance companies come to West Bay. A recent CVS property acquisition gave the borrower credit for the value of the future lease: The loan-to-value was 60% but the loan-to-purchase was a “that's-more-like-it” 95%. For more information on our Bisnow partner, click here.