Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
Berkeley Capital Advisors announced October 30 that it opened its first dedicated debt brokerage and structured-finance service, led by managing director Trevor Campbell from a new Washington, D.C., office. The firm says it has handled 3,010 property sales totaling $18.9 billion since 1997. The launch does not represent a completed loan or acquisition.
Berkeley Capital Advisors is moving beyond investment-property sales into arranging commercial real estate financing, a change that gives the Charlotte-based brokerage a direct role in debt negotiations for its existing investor clients.
The firm announced October 30 that it had launched its first dedicated debt brokerage operation and hired Trevor Campbell as managing director. Campbell will run the new structured finance group from a Washington, D.C., office.
The business will arrange debt and equity capital for property acquisitions, refinancing and recapitalizations. Berkeley said the service will cover multifamily housing, industrial property, offices, hotels and self-storage as well as its established retail-property business.
The announcement is an expansion of brokerage capabilities, rather than a report of a newly funded transaction. Berkeley disclosed no opening loan volume, financing commitments or projected revenue for the group.
Retail brokerage moves into financing
Berkeley has concentrated on investment real estate sales since its founding in 1997. The company said it has completed 3,010 transactions representing $18.9 billion in cumulative sales volume, including 72 grocery-anchored and multi-tenant shopping-center transactions in 2025. Those are historical company-reported figures, not production targets for the new financing arm.
Founding partner Rob Carter said the firm had discussed adding debt brokerage for years and wanted to give clients another option during the sales process. The company said borrowers would remain free to use their existing lender relationships.
That distinction is important for property investors considering a refinancing in today’s higher-rate market. A broker that already handles an asset sale may now also solicit competing financing proposals, allowing an owner to compare a sale against holding the property with a different debt structure. Such proposals can have materially different costs, covenants and execution risks.
Campbell previously led Transwestern’s Mid-Atlantic structured finance team and worked in JLL’s capital markets group. Berkeley said he has 25 years of commercial real estate experience and has participated in financing, acquisition or sale activity exceeding $6 billion. The figure spans several kinds of transactions and should not be read as $6 billion in loans originated by Berkeley.
Why the expansion matters
Commercial property owners face a difficult refinancing environment after years of lower borrowing costs. WRE News has recently detailed the equity shortfalls confronting maturing office loans and rising distress in segments of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. Those problems do not affect every property equally, but they help explain why advisers are broadening their capital-placement services.
Berkeley’s new unit will compete for assignments in a field that includes established national financing intermediaries. The company has not identified any initial client mandate or announced whether it plans additional financing hires outside Washington. The test will be whether the new team can convert Berkeley’s sales relationships into closed debt and equity transactions.
