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Great Plans Capital Management
Craig Karmin's Great Plans Capital Management runs short-duration bridge credit against middle-market commercial real estate from Chicago.
Great Plans Capital Management
Great Plans Capital Management launched in Chicago in 2019, founded by Managing Partner Craig Karmin after a career spanning leadership roles at UBS's investment bank and JP Morgan's real estate structured finance group. The firm was built to service a specific gap in the capital stack: short-term bridge loans and structured credit for middle-market commercial real estate sponsors who sit between local bank relationship lending and the institutional private credit universe. The strategy centers on short-duration, senior-secured lending against transitional commercial real estate across the Midwest and Sun Belt. The firm originates floating-rate first mortgages, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity positions, typically targeting value-add office, light industrial, retail, and multifamily assets where a sponsor needs capital for lease-up, renovation, or a discounted payoff. Deal size is consistently below $15 million, a band where competition from larger direct lenders is structurally absent. Karmin's underwriting relies on a quantitative value lens — evaluating basis relative to replacement cost and stabilization yield, a discipline drawn from his experience running systematic strategies at UBS. The firm operates as a lean principal-led shop from a single Chicago office. Team size remains intentionally small; deployment velocity is a function of Karmin's direct origination relationships rather than a capital-markets desk. Great Plans does not disclose total deployment or fund structures publicly, though its regulatory filings confirm a pooled investment vehicle structure with limited external LP capital. No operating foundation or philanthropic vehicle is tied to the firm. The structural differentiator is the duration mismatch the firm exploits. By lending on a 12-to-36-month horizon, Great Plans stays short enough to avoid the interest-rate duration risk that crushed long-dated real estate lenders in 2022–2023, while being too small and manual for insurance-company direct lending platforms that need scale. The firm's loan book is effectively a barbell: granular, short-tenor, sponsor-backed credit that moves with the Fed funds rate rather than fighting it.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2019
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
Chicago, IL, United States
Principals
Craig Karmin
Managing Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Great Plans Capital Management?
Craig Karmin, the firm's Managing Partner and founder, leads all investment decisions. Karmin built the underwriting framework himself, drawing on a career that included senior structured-finance roles at UBS and JP Morgan. The firm does not publicly list an investment committee or additional voting members beyond Karmin.
What distinguishes Great Plans' lending strategy from a traditional direct lender?
Great Plans targets sub-$15 million bridge loans, a check size that institutional direct lenders generally avoid because the economics don't support their overhead. The firm also runs a deliberately short-duration book — typically 12 to 36 months — which means it resets pricing frequently and carries less mark-to-market duration risk than lenders who wrote five-to-seven-year fixed-rate paper before the rate cycle turned.
Does Great Plans participate in fund commitments or only direct loans?
Great Plans originates loans directly; there is no public evidence it makes LP commitments to external real estate funds. The firm markets itself to sponsors as a direct balance-sheet lender, not an intermediary or fund-of-funds.
Which geographies and property types does the firm focus on?
The firm concentrates on the Midwest — anchored by its Chicago base — and the Sun Belt. Property types include value-add office, light industrial, retail, and multifamily. The common thread is transitional assets where a sponsor needs capital to execute a business plan that a local bank cannot or will not finance at that moment.
Is Great Plans Capital Management a family office or an asset manager?
Great Plans operates as an asset manager. It pools external LP capital through a private investment vehicle. There is no publicly disclosed connection to a single-family wealth source or family-office structure.
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