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Forman Capital
Forman Capital, the Palm Beach-based direct real estate bridge lender, has deployed over $2 billion across 300-plus transactions in Sun Belt markets.
Forman Capital
Forman Capital launched as a specialty finance platform focused exclusively on direct commercial real estate bridge lending, a niche the firm has occupied without deviation. Unlike broader credit shops that layer real estate exposure into multi-strategy portfolios, Forman Capital underwrites, closes, and services its own loans, maintaining in-house control from origination through exit. The firm structures short-term senior secured debt for middle-market sponsors who need certainty of execution — the kind of borrowers a bank credit committee will not process quickly enough. Deployment is concentrated in high-velocity Sun Belt markets, with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee forming the geographic backbone. The loan book spans construction takeout, value-add transitional assets, and opportunistic recapitalizations across multifamily, industrial, retail, and hospitality property types. The firm does not raise blind-pool funds; rather, it operates on a balance-sheet-plus-discretionary-capital model, which removes fund-life pressure and lets the partnership evaluate every credit on standalone merit. Public records and trade press confirm Forman Capital closed over $500 million in originations in 2023 alone. Brett Forman runs the firm as CEO, while Ben Jacobson serves as Principal and co-founder. The partnership has closed more than 300 loans since inception — a velocity that implies a repeat-client base of Sun Belt sponsors and developers. The firm has not publicized a headcount or disclosed a formal institutional fund structure, suggesting the partnership retains meaningful economics internally and manages a concentrated portfolio with a lean senior team. Forman Capital's structural differentiator is the deliberate absence of a fund-raise cycle. By avoiding commingled-vehicle constraints, the firm can deploy capital on credit-specific timelines and hold loans without the artificial urgency of an expiring investment period. That architecture places Forman Capital squarely in the ranks of independent private credit providers that compete by absorbing complexity and delivering speed — a posture that is operationally distinct from both regulated bank lending and institutional blind-pool credit managers.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
—
AUM
$500M – $1.5B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Palm Beach
Corporate office
Palm Beach, FL, United States
Principals
Brett Forman
Chief Executive Officer
Ben Jacobson
Principal & Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What type of loans does Forman Capital underwrite?
Forman Capital originates short-term senior secured bridge loans for transitional and value-add commercial real estate assets. The firm underwrites construction takeout, acquisition financing, and opportunistic recapitalizations across multifamily, industrial, retail, and hospitality property types. Loan proceeds are typically used to bridge a gap in timing — lease-up, renovation, or rezoning — that disqualifies the borrower from conventional permanent financing. The firm structures debt as first-lien mortgages with terms generally ranging from 12 to 36 months.
Who makes the final credit decisions at Forman Capital?
Brett Forman, as CEO, and Ben Jacobson, as Principal and co-founder, constitute the firm's senior decision-makers. Because Forman Capital does not operate a formal credit-committee structure with separate risk-management officers, final approvals sit with the founding partnership. That proximity between underwriting and approval is central to the firm's ability to issue term sheets within days of receiving a complete loan package.
Does Forman Capital operate as a fund or a balance-sheet lender?
Forman Capital operates as a balance-sheet and discretionary-capital lender rather than a commingled blind-pool fund manager. The firm has not disclosed raising a closed-end flagship fund with limited-partner commitments, which suggests the partnership deploys a combination of internal capital and separately structured co-investment or warehouse lines. This architecture removes the deployment-pressure constraints inherent in a fund-vehicle expiration schedule, meaning the firm can pause originations entirely if credit conditions deteriorate without breaching an LP mandate.
Which geographic markets does Forman Capital target?
The firm concentrates origination activity in major Sun Belt growth corridors, with a documented footprint that includes Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee. Loan-level public records show heavy concentrations in South Florida, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Nashville — all markets where in-migration and construction velocity sustain demand for bridge capital. The firm does not claim a national mandate and has not publicized loans in the Northeast or West Coast gateway cities.
How does Forman Capital source its deal pipeline?
Forman Capital's pipeline is built on repeat sponsor relationships in Sun Belt commercial real estate markets. The firm does not maintain a broker-dealer desk or a capital-markets salesforce; rather, it cultivates a network of developers, acquisition sponsors, and mortgage brokers who return to Forman for speed and execution certainty. Because the firm has closed more than 300 transactions, the partnership likely benefits from a self-reinforcing referral loop in which former borrowers become repeat clients across successive project cycles.
Is Forman Capital affiliated with a larger bank or insurance platform?
No. Forman Capital is an independent specialty finance firm unaffiliated with any federally regulated bank or insurance carrier. That independence gives the partnership the flexibility to move quickly — the firm can issue a signed term sheet in as little as 24 to 48 hours, according to its own marketing — but it also means the firm does not have access to the low-cost deposit funding base that a bank-owned commercial real estate platform would enjoy. The liability structure that supports origination remains undisclosed.
What is Forman Capital's typical loan size?
Forman Capital targets loans in the middle-market commercial real estate credit band, generally ranging from $5 million to $50 million, though the firm has closed outlier transactions above that range. That positioning places the firm above local hard-money lenders in scale but below the thresholds at which large institutional credit managers or insurance companies typically dominate. The mid-market focus gives Forman capital a competitive moat: deals in this band are too small for Wall Street structured-credit desks but too large for most family-run private lenders.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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