West coast REPE

PCCP ACORE Capital Ares (their commercial mortgage reit)

I know Ares HQ is in LA but not sure if that’s where their RE debt guys are. ACORE is still relatively new company but their principals are well established in the industry so could be a good group to reach out to

thorofare capital is solid if you want to start in middle market type stuff.

I think highly of both ACORE and Thorofare.

Yeah probably middle market since I have a solid but not stellar resume. I appreciate any insight, aside from a cre dsf internship I began last month I'm pretty ignorant about the industry and just starting to learn

your best bet is definitely LA or SF, depending on what you want to do. In my personal experience, I believe SF to be more of an extension of NY than LA (though LA definitely has NY extensions). That is to say if you find yourself HQ in LA, you'll probably be looking at more CA focused deals and more focused on neighboring states. If you find yourself in SF, you'll also focus on those deals, I just feel like SF is more of a boots on the ground city for NY guys, Some people may dispute that, and there claims may be valid... i guess i just have some specific shops in mind.

Mesa West is in LA

I think you're going to have a tougher time finding those type of shops in Seattle. Not that they don't exist, but generally a lot of the larger firms are going to focus in either LA or SF, just from a logistics standpoint. They can cover more ground more often from those locations, and then those offices will also cover Seattle. Unless a firm is strictly PNW focused, doesn't make sense in a lot of cases to have an anchor office there, although some do have satellite locations.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the insight

Everyone's saying ACORE - last time I checked they're only a mezz lender. Great shop, but wouldn't consider it pe

e: whoops just saw that op was specifically asking for debt funds

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Oh BXMT/BREDS is in Santa Monica too

CIM in LA

I don't disagree with the above poster that the West Coast has more regionally focused firms, but the idea that you'd only be looking at CA deals is crazy. Lots of exposure in all the major primary and secondary western markets at institutional firms are based out of LA, SF, and Seattle. I actually would say LA has more equity side RE opportunities than SF but plenty of large national players in all three of the cities you listed. If anything, Seattle might have a heavier percentage of firms focused on MFR. I would encourage you try and get on the equity side for hands on experience first unless you exclusively want a career on the debt side for some reason. Much easier to go from equity to debt than vice versa.