Bellwether Enterprise has made a major push to expand its affordable housing group, adding four team members from Hunt Mortgage Group.
The firm recently hired Suzie Cope, Jim Gillespie, Cindy Hannon, and Jon Killough as senior vice presidents. They bring more than 100 years of combined experience to the firm.
The move follows Bellwether Enterprise’s hiring of Philip Melton, executive vice president, to lead its affordable housing group. Melton also had been at Hunt Mortgage, formerly Centerline Capital Group.
Each person made the decision and negotiated individually to join Bellwether Enterprise, according to Melton, who said the team did not come over as a group.
His firm is the commercial and multifamily mortgage banking subsidiary of Enterprise Community Investment.
The recent additions bring the company’s affordable housing debt team to 10. There are another eight people on the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) syndication side.
On the debt side, Bellwether Enterprise has five primary products—Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and proprietary bridge loans. “In conjunction with that, we also have the capability of reaching across and working with the Enterprise folks, which then enhances us to have the Enterprise Community Loan Fund, which is everything from predevelopment loans to short-term and mid-term bridge and mini-perm structures, to the New Markets Tax Credit to the LIHTC side to the workforce housing equity group,” Melton says.
Centerline Capital Group was acquired by Hunt Cos. in late 2013 and was later renamed Hunt Mortgage Group.
