Weekly Real Estate News
Northmarq has acquired Thirdline Capital Management LLC, expanding the commercial real estate firm’s investment-management platform into the registered-fund business.
The Minneapolis-based company announced the transaction Monday. Thirdline is an investment adviser that manages the Thirdline Real Estate Income Fund, or TREIX, a registered closed-end interval fund focused on real estate investments.
The acquisition adds TREIX’s publicly registered fund platform to Northmarq Fund Management’s existing private-fund business and broadens Northmarq’s presence in income-oriented commercial real estate investments.
Northmarq expands its investment platform
Northmarq Fund Management invests and manages debt and equity capital nationwide, with a focus on small-balance and middle-market commercial real estate. The business was founded in 2002 as Morrison Street Capital and was renamed after Northmarq acquired it in 2024.
“This acquisition builds on Northmarq’s established investment management business and represents an important step in our continued growth,” Northmarq Fund Management President and CEO Rance Gregory said in the company’s announcement.
Gregory said adding Thirdline and TREIX broadens the ways Northmarq can connect investors with commercial real estate opportunities while expanding the firm’s income-oriented investment capabilities.
Northmarq said the acquisition expands its capabilities in areas including mezzanine loans, B-notes and real estate securities.
SEC filings outlined the planned transaction
The transaction had been disclosed before Monday’s announcement in regulatory filings for the Thirdline Real Estate Income Fund.
An August proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thirdline’s principals entered into an agreement on July 28 to sell all outstanding interests in Thirdline to Northmarq Fund Management. Because the transaction represented a change in control of the fund’s investment adviser, shareholders were asked to approve a new investment advisory agreement with Northmarq Fund Management.
The proxy stated that the new agreement would not increase the fund’s management fee and that Northmarq had agreed to retain Thirdline’s Charles Hutchens as the fund’s portfolio manager.
A supplemental prospectus filed in September identifies Northmarq Fund Management as the fund’s investment adviser.
Thirdline adds registered fund to Northmarq’s business
Thirdline Capital Management was founded in 2021 and is based in Richmond, Virginia. It has served as investment adviser to TREIX, a non-diversified registered closed-end interval fund designed to invest across real estate debt and equity.
Hutchens said Northmarq’s national platform could help expand the fund’s capabilities in sourcing, underwriting and asset management.
Northmarq said the combination is intended to help further diversify TREIX across geographies, property types and investment types while focusing on dividend growth and stability.
The acquisition adds another business line to Northmarq’s national commercial real estate platform. The privately held firm operates more than 50 offices and provides debt, equity, investment sales, loan servicing and fund-management services. Northmarq says it manages a loan-servicing portfolio exceeding $80 billion and has completed $91.3 billion in transactions over the past four years.
