Black Bear Capital Partners (BBCP), a real estate financial advisory firm and affiliate of Black Bear Asset Management (BBAM), has expanded its Chicago office with the addition of veteran real estate finance advisor Raymond Zanca, who joins as a senior managing director. Sam Koziol also joins the Chicago office as an analyst.
Immediately upon joining the Chicago team Zanca arranged a $16 million condominium inventory bridge loan on behalf of Ascend Real Estate Group. The 18-month, non-recourse financing which is being used to pay off the existing mezzanine debt and cover remaining project costs and associated closing costs for Superior House Condos, a 34-unit residential property at 366 West Superior in the River North neighborhood. Avant Capital is the lender.
“The addition of Raymond and Sam are part of a strategic initiative to expand our Chicago office, providing clients throughout the Midwest with the highest-caliber representation,” said BBCP COO Bryan Manz. “Their impact has been immediate, and we expect to make several additional new hires at the senior level in the coming months.”
Zanca adds to the newly formed Chicago office which also includes Eric Trombly, Matthew Stearns, Scott Modelski and Zach Fitzgerald. In his new role with BBCP, Zanca is primarily responsible for the sourcing and execution of structured debt and equity transactions. Zanca was previously a senior vice president at Alpha Capital CRE, a director of acquisitions and dispositions for various private equity real estate groups and began his career in Chicago at CBRE.
As an analyst in the Chicago office, Koziol is responsible for analyzing and underwriting advisory transactions, assisting in the placement of debt and equity, facilitating related transactions and providing support with respect to the firm’s overall operations.
Prior to joining BBCP, Koziol was an analyst at HKS Holdings, where he worked closely with the firm’s asset management team, supporting the firm’s $400M multifamily and hotel portfolio. Prior to joining HKS, Koziol was a commercial real estate lending analyst for BMO Harris Bank, where he was responsible for underwriting and monitoring commercial loans ranging from $10M to $150M.
BBCP, which services transactions across all property types, closed numerous complex refinancing packages in excess of $1 billion year-to-date, with another $500 million in the pipeline.
