Q & A with Michael H. Claisse, Spencer Savings Bank
Senior Vice President/ Director of Commercial Real Estate
Headquarters: 611 River Dr., Elmwood Park, NJ 07407
Number of CRE specialists: 25+
Years with company/firm: 4
Years in field: 25+
Spencer provides a full range of financing options
for property types ranging from multi-family to commercial
Area of Interest:
Spencer delivers comprehensive financing for property types ranging from multi-family to commercial (including mixed-use, retail, medical office, flex/warehouse and industrial) as well as construction loans (rental units and smaller for-sale residential properties). We also offer financing and refinancing for 1-4-family investment properties, and robust commercial and industrial loans for owner-occupied real estate deals and other debt. Our experienced staff has the knowledge and expertise to help provide loans for refinancing, purchases or investment property development. We understand the financial challenges that real estate investors face and will continue to provide our clients with flexible financing solutions.
Who is your target market?
The strong credit quality of Spencer’s $3 billion-plus loan portfolio has helped make it one of NJ’s most reliable community banks, resulting in growth that expands well beyond our brick-and-mortar footprint. Headquartered in northern New Jersey, the bank has a proven track record of helping real estate investors and developers not just in NJ, but throughout the Tri-State Area. Our target customers are medium-to-large real estate owners and developers throughout New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, Orange and Rockland Counties and Eastern Pennsylvania.
What is your most noteworthy transaction or project this year?
We offer such a wide variety of community loans that it’s hard to point to one specific transaction. We were able to structure a $9MM loan for a 58-unit multi-family building in Hackensack that enabled the sponsor to develop and bring additional units online after the closing. We were also able to close a $14.6MM loan for the acquisition of a 125M sf flex industrial building in Florham Park in just 61 days, term sheet to close. To highlight one of our construction loans, Spencer worked with a newer developer and structured a $9.8MM construction/perm loan to build a 7-story apartment building in Jersey City. We do a good deal of business across the river, too. Spencer provided $12MM in financing covering three mixed-use buildings in Harlem as a portfolio restructure for a client.
Where do you think your largest growth area is and why?
Construction financing of multi-family rental developments will continue to be a focus, as it not only helps to hedge against interest rate risk, but also strengthens our balance sheet as completed projects come online. This certainly will not distract Spencer from persistently growing our permanent multi-family and commercial loan portfolios, though we are tempered in our expectations. As rates continue their upward trend and until there is a price correction, more equity will be needed in the marketplace. We are cognizant of the constraints all are facing and will be proactive in our loan structuring.
What separates you from the competition?
Our lending team continues to be flexible, nimble, and creative, with the ability to offer expedited approvals on transactions. Leveraging localized and direct access to decision-makers, our team works hard for clients to streamline the lending process, helping them to save time and focus on their commercial projects. At Spencer, we empower our team to find creative solutions to meet complex borrowing needs. We work closely with our clients to ensure they get the financing needed to achieve their goals. Spencer has never wavered on our financing commitments, even during challenging economic times.
Name some of your most unique qualities/reasons why someone should do business with your financial institution?
Spencer Savings Bank is a full service, mutually owned and operated, community bank operating 26 Financial Centers across New Jersey. We’ve been in business for over 100 years, have almost $4 billion in assets and pride ourselves on being one of New Jersey’s strongest community banks, differentiating us from larger regional and national financial institutions. We know our local markets and truly care about our clients; helping them to achieve their goals is always our primary focus. Our veteran lenders communicate closely with executive management to remain aligned with the bank’s goals. This translates to certainty of execution. A recent NJ Bank Performance Report by the Financial Management Consulting Group found that Spencer had the highest loan growth rate of all 56 banks in the survey for 2021. Spencer keeps closing loans and delivering excellent results for clients.
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