Saluda Grade Acquires Hillcrest Finance to Expand Real Estate Investment Platform

Saluda Grade, an alternative investment firm specializing in asset-based finance with a focus on residential real estate, today announced that it has acquired Hillcrest Finance (“Hillcrest”), a minority- and women-owned investment firm with expertise in commercial real estate (“CRE”). The acquisition comes a year after Saluda Grade acquired a passive minority stake in Hillcrest in June 2024.

“This is a natural progression of the strong relationship we’ve built with Hillcrest over the past year,” said Ryan Craft, Founder & CEO of Saluda Grade. “While our focus on the residential sector will remain, we see a compelling opportunity in CRE finance and our complementary specialized platforms will enhance the solutions we can offer our clients. We are thrilled to add Hillcrest’s team to expand our ability to access attractive opportunities within asset classes across the entire U.S. real estate landscape.”

Founded in December 2013 by Kathleen "Kathy" Corton, Hillcrest has been jointly led by Corton and co-CEO Sharon Ann "Samm" Miller since early 2015. Both executives bring over 35 years of institutional commercial real estate investment experience to the firm. Prior to founding Hillcrest, Corton spent most of her career at Nomura where she led CRE debt originations nationwide and Brickman where she led debt investing. Miller began her career in CRE lending at TIAA-CREF in the mortgage and real estate division before specializing in institutional real estate equity at The Connor Group, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Hart Advisers, Trammell Crow, and Rockwood Capital.

"Saluda Grade has demonstrated a clear commitment to client service and innovative solutions – two principles we truly value," Miller said. "This transition will allow our team to grow and develop within a dynamic organization, while preserving the Hillcrest investment approach that our investors have come to rely on."

Added Corton: "This is an exciting step forward, as we can continue building and scaling a synergistic CRE platform at Saluda Grade. Over the past year, we’ve seen firsthand how well our teams complement each other, and we’re thrilled to carry that collaboration forward into this next chapter on behalf of our lending partners and borrowers.”

As a result of the transaction, Corton, Miller and Hillcrest’s entire full-time team are joining Saluda Grade, which has increased its assets under management to $2.5 billion, as of May 31, 2025.

About Saluda Grade

Saluda Grade is an alternative investment firm specializing in asset-based finance, with a focus on residential real estate. Founded in 2019, the firm has $2.5 billion in AUM as of May 31, 2025, and is headquartered in New York City with a secondary office in Aspen. The firm’s leadership team has worked together for over 15 years, navigating multiple market cycles and rate environments. The team offers deep industry knowledge and experience across structured credit, specialty finance, mortgage-backed securities, and growth equity investments. For more information about Saluda Grade, please visit www.saludagrade.com.

About Hillcrest Finance

Hillcrest Finance is an alternative investment manager based in New York City, focused on Commercial Real Estate (CRE) credit. Hillcrest Finance specializes in the origination and management of high quality, middle-market, first mortgage and subordinate (mezzanine and preferred equity) credit solutions on behalf of the firm’s institutional investors. See hillcrestfinancellc.com for additional information.

Disclaimer:

This press release is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to sell nor the solicitation of an offer to any for any other securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale. All investing entails risk.

Forward-looking statements:

Statements in this press release have "forward-looking statements," and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250603955171/en/

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.