Trinity Real Estate Finance is a San Antonio–founded firm celebrating 30 years of arranging and closing commercial mortgages across Texas and nationwide. With offices in San Antonio and Austin, Trinity finances everything from offices and industrial to multifamily, retail, hotels, and self-storage, sourcing capital from life companies, banks, credit unions, and the agencies. Deeply rooted in San Antonio, the team prides itself on client service and has backed marquee projects like the Continental Hotel redevelopment with Weston Urban.
We spoke with Kirk Oden, one of the firm’s principals, about how they are creating the next generation of real estate finance professionals.
Tell us about Trinity Real Estate Finance and the work your company specializes in.
Founded in San Antonio in 1996, and with offices here and in Austin, Trinity is celebrating its thirtieth year in the commercial mortgage business. We market, arrange and close mortgage loans on all types of income producing assets throughout the Texas and nationwide. We finance office buildings, shopping centers, industrial warehouses, apartments, hotels, self-storage facilities, and more. Our sources of capital include life insurance companies, banks, credit unions, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the occasional commercial mortgage-backed securities lender.
What attracted Trinity Real Estate Finance to San Antonio, and how has the region supported your growth?
When we opened the business San Antonio presented a significant opportunity to grow — it had a pro-business environment, a high quality of life, strong job and population growth, lots of good options for schools and more. We were focused on those parts of Texas that were not Houston or Dallas, and San Antonio proved the perfect location for that jumping off point. The local commercial real estate community opened their arms to us, and we have made many friends and clients in our years here.
How has being rooted and headquartered in san antonio shaped your firm's identity and growth strategy?
No question being in San Antonio keeps the company focused on the important things—customer service, ethical treatment of our clients, minding our knitting and growing the business organically. The city was small enough for us to get a foothold, but dynamic enough that we were able to grow with it.
What recent San Antonio project or accomplishment is Trinity Real Estate
Finance most proud of?
We are proud of all our closings! The most notable San Antonio project that we have financed is probably the Continental Hotel redevelopment with Weston Urban. It's our second skyline deal, and we're very proud of it and grateful to the borrower for working with us and the lenders for stepping up in what was at the time a very difficult lending environment.
What motivated Trinity Real Estate Finance to invest in greater:SATX and how does this partnership fit into your vision for san antonio's real estate environment?
We had been investors from the early days in Opportunity Austin and saw what that organization did for Austin. When we were given the opportunity to invest into greater:SATX, we knew what we were getting and it was easy for us to make the commitment.
Looking to the future, what opportunities do you see emerging in the San Antonio real estate industry and how are you preparing for them?
The market is getting bigger, richer, more complex, and geographically spread out. This means it will have more urban as well as suburban development opportunities. As the surburban ring grows, urban developments become more valuable and more expensive. This is a double-edged sword. Some lenders like "bargain hunting" and while that is still possible in San Antonio, the city's strong growth patterns and consistent improvement in rents and values have diversified the market into various segments, including "high end".
Is there anything else you would like to share about Trinity Real Estate Finance’s presence in the Greater San Antonio region?
We're hiring! We are looking for an analyst to complement our young production team. As we grow, we hire young professionals on the production side—right out of college to a couple of years' experience. We teach them the business and then give them opportunities to build their own book of business. Everyone on the production team started out as an analyst.
Learn more about Trinity Real Estate Finance at www.trinityref.com.