Commercial Property Loans in Hamptons, NY

Village retail acquisition is the most common application of our commercial lending program. Newtown Lane (East Hampton), Main Street (Southampton, Sag Harbor), Jobs Lane (Southampton Village), and the commercial strips in Bridgehampton and Amagansett feature retail properties that trade infrequently and often off-market. When a landlord family decides to sell a building they've held for three generations, the transaction happens quietly through a local attorney and moves in 30 days. Our commercial loan program is built for that pace.

Boutique hospitality acquisitions and repositionings represent another major application. The Hamptons boutique hotel market — properties with 10 to 60 rooms that attract design-forward NYC travelers willing to pay $800 to $2,000 per night in peak season — has seen significant capital inflow from the restaurant and hospitality investor community. Think of the operators behind Nick & Toni's-tier dining experiences converting historic inns into design-forward boutique properties. We finance these acquisitions and the repositioning renovations, understanding that hospitality DSCR during the off-season will not look like the mid-summer stabilized number.

Mixed-use properties combining ground-floor commercial with upper-floor residential are common in Sag Harbor Village, East Hampton Village, and Southampton Village. These properties offer diversified income streams — retail ground-floor lease plus one or two residential units above — and are particularly resilient investments because the residential component provides year-round income during winter months when retail lease payments may be lower. We finance mixed-use acquisitions up to $10 million.

Restaurant and food-and-beverage real estate investment is a specialized application. Hamptons restaurant real estate — the building, not the operating business — commands premium valuations because the permitting environment is restrictive and new food-service licenses are difficult to obtain. An investor who acquires a building with an existing food-service permit and a lease in place to a proven operator owns a scarce asset. We finance these acquisitions with appropriate LTV against the real estate value.

Seasonal commercial property acquisitions present a specific timing opportunity. Investors who acquire commercial properties in October or November, when the summer season has ended and sellers are motivated, and lease them to new tenants for the following summer season can generate first-year yields that far exceed off-season asking prices suggest. Our commercial loans allow investors to execute this strategy without the conventional bank's requirement for 24 months of stable operating history.

The Hamptons commercial lending market is underserved by conventional lenders for several reasons. First, seasonal income patterns make standard DSCR underwriting impossible. A Montauk boutique hotel that generates $1.2 million in RevPAR from May through September and $100,000 from October through April does not have 12 equal monthly debt-service payments. Banks require smoothed annual income; the actual cash flow is lumpy. We underwrite to annual stabilized income rather than monthly averages.

Second, many of the most attractive commercial properties in the Hamptons are owner-occupied or have month-to-month tenant arrangements that predate modern commercial lease standards. The ground-floor retailer on Newtown Lane may have been paying a handshake rent for 20 years. Formalizing that arrangement into a bankable lease takes time. We bridge the financing gap during the transition.

Third, the Hamptons commercial zoning environment is restrictive. Southampton and East Hampton Towns limit commercial uses strictly, and obtaining approvals for new uses or expanded hours can take months. A commercial property acquisition where the investor's business plan depends on a new use permit carries execution risk that we factor into our LTV and term structure rather than using as a basis for loan declination.

Fourth, village retail properties often have deferred maintenance that triggers conventional lender property-condition concerns. We finance value-add commercial properties that need renovation, funding both acquisition and improvement costs through a single loan with milestone-based draw disbursements.

Our commercial lending team begins with an underwriting call to understand the property's income history, the borrower's business plan, and the intended exit strategy. We issue a term sheet within 48 to 72 hours and close in 14 to 21 days for most commercial transactions. Complex hospitality repositionings or multi-parcel assemblages may require 21 to 28 days.

We require rent rolls, operating statements where available, the purchase contract, and entity documentation. We do not require three years of audited financials, third-party environmental reports for standard retail and office properties, or formal bank-quality appraisals for all transactions — though we do commission our own valuations on commercial loans above $2 million.

Commercial loan amounts range from $500,000 to $15 million. LTV up to 70% for stabilized commercial assets; up to 65% for value-add or repositioning scenarios. Interest-only monthly payments are standard. Terms run 12 to 36 months with extension options. Rates reflect the specific risk profile of each deal — a stabilized multi-tenant retail building with three long-term leases carries a different rate than a vacant hospitality property under full repositioning.

We maintain a network of Hamptons commercial real estate professionals — brokers at Compass, Brown Harris Stevens, and Sotheby's who specialize in commercial transactions, and attorneys who understand village zoning — that we can connect borrowers with when deal structuring requires local expertise.