What Does a Strong Office Deal Look Like in 2026?

We pride ourselves on seeking out debt financing opportunities that are underserved by the institutional capital markets. Office in 2026 is one of the clearest examples of that in practice. Banks have pulled back broadly. Agency capital has dried up for most office scenarios. That creates a real gap — and filling it, thoughtfully, is what we do. 

Why Banks Aren’t the Right Call for Most Office Deals Right Now 

Conventional lenders evaluate office deals against standardized criteria — minimum occupancy thresholds, recourse requirements, conservative LTV limits — that don’t account for the actual opportunity in the asset. A building at 54% occupancy with a strong renovation plan and an experienced sponsor in a high-performing submarket gets declined automatically by most banks. The deal doesn’t fit the template. 

Our Uptown Tower acquisition bridge loan is a direct example. When Bradford Companies acquired the 254,000 SF office building near Knox-Henderson in 2025, conventional lenders had largely withdrawn from office acquisitions entirely — regardless of submarket or sponsor quality. We closed a $30.8 million non-recourse first-lien acquisition bridge loan because we underwrote the specific deal: the submarket fundamentals, the borrower’s execution track record, and a detailed, well-scoped renovation program. The banks couldn’t do it. We could. 

That’s the pattern we see consistently in office right now. The deals coming to us aren’t bad deals. They’re deals that don’t conform to a conventional credit framework, and that’s a different problem entirely. 

What Makes a Deal Work for Us? 

Because we’re not working from a standardized underwriting checklist, our process is more judgment-based than a bank’s. We’re evaluating the whole picture. Here are the questions we’re asking when analyzing a deal: 

Is the submarket fundamentally sound? 

This matters more than the occupancy number at origination. Office demand in 2026 is concentrated in specific submarkets — Uptown, Preston Center, Knox-Henderson in DFW, for example — while other corridors continue to struggle. A building at 60% occupancy in a submarket with genuine demand drivers is a better risk than one at 80% in a location where tenants aren’t renewing. We go deep on absorption trends, rent trajectories, and what creditworthy tenants in that submarket are actually doing. 

Does the sponsor have a specific plan — and the track record to execute it? 

We’re not looking for a generic value-add thesis. We want to know what is being renovated, what it costs, who the contractor is, and why that specific scope of work improves the asset’s competitiveness for the tenants they’re trying to attract. Bradford Companies’ plan for Uptown Tower — a redesigned lobby, new fitness center, coworking suites, floor-by-floor restroom upgrades — was specific, budgeted, and targeted. That’s what a credible plan looks like. 

Sponsor track record matters equally. We’re taking on risk that a bank won’t, which means we need confidence that the team on the other side of the table has done this before and can execute under real-world conditions. 

Can we structure around the complexity? 

This is where creative financing actually means something. Non-recourse terms, structured bridge loans with extension options tied to leasing milestones, C-PACE financing layered into the capital stack to reduce senior loan exposure — these are the tools we use to make deals work that wouldn’t otherwise pencil. 

For office specifically, non-recourse financing is often the deciding factor for sponsors. Most banks require personal guarantees on office loans right now. We don’t, for the right deal. That’s a meaningful structural difference, and it’s why sponsors with credible plans and strong assets end up with us instead of a conventional lender. 

What We’re Seeing in the DFW Office Market 

We’ve committed significant capital to Texas office because the submarket data in DFW tells a different story than the national narrative. According to the MBA’s 2025 Commercial Real Estate Finance Outlook, approximately 17% of office mortgage balances mature in 2026 — creating real transaction flow for sponsors who can move decisively with a capital partner ready to act. 

At the same time, new office supply reached its lowest level since 2013 last year, with the construction pipeline down 44% from January 2024. For well-located assets with a real renovation thesis, that’s a meaningful tailwind. Less competition from new product means the repositioning has a cleaner path to improved occupancy and rents. 

The Knox-Henderson/Uptown corridor — where Uptown Tower sits — carries the highest average office rents in DFW. That’s not a coincidence. It’s a submarket with genuine demand drivers: walkability, proximity to Uptown, access to the amenities that tenants are requiring as a baseline. Lending in that environment, on a well-structured deal, is not the same risk as lending on office broadly. 

Who Should Be Talking to Us? 

If you have an office deal that a bank has already declined — or that you know won’t fit a conventional credit box — that’s not the end of the road. It’s often where our process starts. 

The sponsors who work best with us tend to have a few things in common: 

• They have a specific asset in a submarket they know well, and a clear understanding on why it works. 

• They need non-recourse financing, or a creative capital structure that a bank can’t provide. 

• They have the track record and the balance sheet to execute a real business plan — they’re not looking for a lender to take on all the risk, they’re looking for one willing to share it intelligently. 

• They’ve already done the work: a renovation budget, a leasing plan, broker relationships. They’re bringing us a deal, not asking us to validate a concept. 

  Have an office deal that doesn’t fit the conventional mold? That’s exactly what we finance. Learn more about our commercial office financing program, or contact our team directly to start a conversation about your deal.