Centerline Capital Group officially renamed Hunt Mortgage Group

Centerline Capital Group, a provider of real estate mortgage services for affordable and conventional multifamily housing, has been renamed Hunt Mortgage Group, completing the firm's transition to Hunt Companies, Inc. Centerline was acquired by Hunt in late 2013. Centerline's asset management and tax credit syndication businesses were transitioned to Hunt earlier this year. Hunt is a privately-owned investor, developer and manager of real assets headquartered in El Paso, TX. With over 1,200 employees, Hunt provides a broad range of real estate services to both public and private sector clients. "The acquisition of Centerline was extremely beneficial to Hunt as it enabled us to add a national mortgage-banking platform and significantly expand our affordable housing asset management business at the same time," said Woody Hunt, chairman and CEO of Hunt Cos. "The transition of the Centerline entity and its extensive capabilities has been a smooth and natural process. Re-naming the firm marks the final stage of transition into the Hunt family of companies." Hunt works with developers, owners and investors to provide capital to develop, acquire or redevelop their real estate assets. The firm is one of a select few agency lenders nationally with $10.4 billion of loans in its mortgage servicing portfolio (as of 6/5/14). The firm is a Fannie Mae DUS lender, Freddie Mac Program Plus Seller Servicer, FHA approved MAP Lender and GNMA issuer, financing a wide range of properties including student housing, manufactured housing, cooperatives, and affordable rental housing. In addition, Hunt offers CMBS, bridge loans and select joint venture equity products. The firm has 145 employees in 14 locations throughout the United States. "Being a part of Hunt affords us access to additional capital and a wider variety of skill sets that will enable the expansion of our current offerings," said Robert Wrzosek, president of Hunt. "My goal is to provide a full suite of lending products that includes all types of commercial real estate properties, making us one of the top financial service providers in the industry." Since Wrzosek joined the firm in late 2013, Hunt has launched three new products, including the creation of a lending program for senior housing/healthcare properties, a multifamily bridge loan program, and a small loan portfolio lending program. Hunt's conventional multifamily mortgage banking team is led by William Hyman, senior managing director, and the affordable multifamily housing debt unit is managed by Philip Melton, senior managing director. "During the past six months our focus was on integrating into Hunt while serving the needs of our customers. Over that time we were able to introduce additional services for our clients," said Wrzosek. "Renaming the firm Hunt Mortgage Group signifies our becoming part of the larger Hunt enterprise and the ability to offer even more expansive services and real estate opportunities."