Northwind Group closes $1 billion real estate credit fund, double its target

Northwind Group closed its third real estate credit fund with $1 billion of committed capital, double the $500 million target the lender set in January 2025, Commercial Observer reported. The vehicle, Northwind Debt Fund III, is the largest the firm has raised, according to founder and managing partner Ran Eliasaf.

The fund will primarily write senior loans, typically $100 million to $200 million each, and about 93% of capital is geared toward residential property, Eliasaf said. It is nearly 60% deployed and should reach 90% deployment by the end of 2026.

The $1 billion is roughly 1.8 times the $546 million that Northwind's first two credit funds raised combined, at $220 million and $326 million. Many of those investors returned for the third vehicle, Eliasaf said. The investor base includes pension funds, insurance companies, banks, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, according to the report.

NDF III has already originated $1.5 billion of loans across multifamily, condominium and office-to-residential projects in supply-constrained U.S. gateway markets. The two named deals are a $401 million senior completion-to-condo inventory loan for Catalfumo Companies' Ritz-Carlton Residences project in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and a $208 million construction loan for the office-to-residential conversion at 141 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn, which this publication covered in September.

The $1.5 billion of originations also exceeds the fund's $1 billion of commitments; the reporting does not break out how the vehicle is levered or whether co-investment sits alongside it.

Eliasaf told Commercial Observer that supply constraints give a lender stability and that uncertainty over values argues for selectivity: "Rates are increasing and there's a question on values, so I think you have to show conservatism right now to select the right properties and, most importantly, also the right sponsors." New York City multifamily and condominium assets take a large share of the strategy.