While most commercial real estate professionals say the capital markets have only improved slightly, executives with some banks say their financial instituions are ready to finance quality commercial real estate projects in southeastern Wisconsin.
“Our commercial real estate (division) is very much open for business,” said Mark Sander, executive vice president and head of commercial banking with Green Bay-based Associated Bank. “We’re anxious to get back to growth. That was not the case in the recent past. We are open for business to do office towers. We have a new head of commercial real estate and we’ve reinvigorated that team. We rebalanced our portfolio as part of the repositioning of ourselves in the marketplace (over the last few years). That’s giving us some room to grow that book of business.”
Bill Bertha, president of the Wisconsin market for U.S. Bank, said his institution is having a hard time finding viable commercial real estate developments to support.
“Our commercial real estate guys are definitely lending,” he said. “They’re looking at every major project that comes through the state. The problem is not a lack of credit available – it’s a lack of viable projects that are structured in a way that is economically viable for the banks, developers and investors.”
