RealtyShares Recruits Leader for New Debt Platform

By Keith Loria

Bill Lanting, RealtyShares’ new VP of commercial debt origination.

RealtyShares has hired Bill Lanting as vice president of commercial debt originations, as the real estate crowdfunding online marketplace looks to expand its presence.

Lanting will head the expansion of the platform’s commercial debt product.

“What’s interesting about RealtyShares is that No. 1, they have been very successful in the last three years establishing a huge deal volume, which surprised me,” Lanting told Commercial Property Executive. “What I am looking forward to more than anything else is establishing a solid foundation of institutional capital so that we can scale this business up considerably more than we could if we were simply relying on the crowd.”

In his role, he will complement the experienced commercial equity team lead by Brian Schultz, vice president of commercial equity.

While the company had previously offered commercial debt options on a smaller scale, his hiring of signals a major commitment to providing real estate developers and operators a one-stop shop for raising the capital they need for projects.

“By building a solid base of institutional capital into which we can inject crowdfunded capital, I think we can scale this up to be a billion-dollar-a-year business,” Lanting said. “My background is in bridge lending—$2 million to $10 million shopping centers and retail centers—and I think we can build that business up considerably in RealtyShares.”

Previously, Lanting served as an executive with Radisson Hotels and Wyndham Hotels, and has recently been responsible for bridge loan originations, underwriting, and raising large, multi-million dollar investment funds from institutional investors for Thorofare Capital and Partners Capital.

“RealtyShares uniquely offers the ability to raise debt and equity capital across both residential and commercial markets for our customers,” Nav Athwal, RealtyShares Founder & CEO, said in a prepared release. “Our focus has always been on identifying areas where raising capital is the most inefficient and providing real value there. We started with single family debt and commercial equity, and over the last few months we’ve seen a real increase in interest from our customers in using our platform for commercial debt as well.”

To date, the RealtyShares network of investors has funded upwards of $200 million across more than 400 investment opportunities on the platform, funding residential and commercial projects in 31 states.

“What I intend to do is line up buckets of institutional capital that we can pair up with our own crowdfunded capital and funnel that capital into a very specific product line, including the triple-net lease,” Lanting said. “What I look forward to more than anything else is to give this company a stable foundation that will allow it to become the unparalleled market leader in this space.”