CRE Bridge in St. Louis

Medical and lab space around the Central West End, industrial near Boeing's north county expansion, and mixed-use or commercial buildings in the inner-ring St. Louis County suburbs. BJC Health, which reports more than 48,000 employees and 24 hospitals across its two brands, anchors the medical corridor alongside Washington University, and the adjacent Cortex Innovation Community is a 200-acre district run by a nonprofit Chapter 353 master developer. On the industrial side, Boeing's F-47 fighter contract is driving a $1.8 billion expansion near Lambert. A bridge loan gets used where an asset needs repositioning, lease-up, or a partner buyout before it fits permanent financing, and these are the corridors where that demand is concentrated.

Yes, and it roughly doubles the tax line. Under the city's 2025 rates, a residential-subclass building assesses at 19% of value taxed at 8.1867 per $100, an effective 1.556% of market value; a commercial-subclass building assesses at 32% taxed at 9.7522 per $100, an effective 3.121% of market value, because the commercial rate also carries the Merchants and Manufacturers inventory replacement tax. A mixed-use asset that lands in the commercial subclass is carrying close to double the property tax of the same building classified residential, and that belongs in the bridge-to-permanent sizing, not a surprise at refinance.

It can matter more in the county than in the city, because St. Louis County municipalities levy separate rates by subclass. In Maplewood, the commercial municipal levy runs 4.5 times the residential rate on the levy alone, and stacked on top of the state's 32% versus 19% assessment ratios, a Maplewood commercial parcel pays roughly 7.6 times the municipal property tax of a residential one per dollar of market value. Getting the classification right on an inner-ring county mixed-use bridge deal is worth real underwriting attention before the loan is sized, not after.

It's the clearest industrial demand driver in the metro at the moment. Boeing won the F-47 next-generation fighter contract on March 21, 2025, and is building the aircraft at a new facility near Lambert as part of a roughly $1.8 billion north county expansion; St. Louis County approved about $155 million in tax breaks tied to a guarantee of 500 new high-paying jobs. That kind of committed demand is exactly the setup a bridge loan is built for: fund the reposition or build-out now, on a defined term, ahead of stabilized permanent debt once the tenant and lease-up picture firms up.

It's the steadiest institutional demand anchor in the city for medical office and lab space. BJC Health reports more than 48,000 employees, 24 hospitals, and hundreds of clinics and service organizations, and it sits alongside Washington University at the center of the corridor. The adjacent Cortex Innovation Community, a 200-acre district established in 2002 and operated by a nonprofit Chapter 353 master developer, is the abatement-eligible innovation-district piece of the same footprint. A medical office or lab building in this corridor is the kind of asset a bridge loan is used to reposition or stabilize before it qualifies for permanent debt against a firmer rent roll.

Through a non-judicial trustee's sale, on a twenty-day notice floor, with one wrinkle a lender who credit bids should know. Missouri forecloses a deed of trust by trustee's sale with not less than twenty days' notice, plus publication and mailed notice requirements. If the lender itself (or its nominee) is the buyer at that sale, Missouri's RSMo 443.410 gives the grantor a one-year post-sale right of redemption, but only if the grantor gave written notice of intent before the sale and posted a court-approved bond within twenty days after it. A sale to a genuine third-party bidder carries no such right. It's a real REO-disposition constraint to build into a credit-bid exit plan, not a lending disqualifier.

Bridge capital is for repositioning or stabilizing a commercial property before permanent financing: value-add, lease-up, a partner buyout, or pulling equity out through a cash-out. We lend across property types on terms up to 24 to 36 months, with loans up to $10M.

Our commercial bridge pricing starts around 9%, interest-only, up to roughly 75% loan-to-value, on terms up to 24 to 36 months. Published bridge pricing generally runs 8% to 12% with 1 to 3 points. Final terms depend on the asset, the business plan, and sponsor strength.

Commercial deals usually close in 2 to 4 weeks. They take a little longer than residential because of the appraisal, the rent roll and operating-statement review, and any third-party reports. We move as fast as the diligence allows and keep one point of contact on your file.

Not necessarily at closing. Bridge loans are often underwritten interest-only to the as-stabilized business plan rather than a minimum in-place DSCR, since the property is being repositioned. We do want to see a credible path to stabilization and enough in-place income or reserves to carry the loan.

Typically the purchase contract or current debt, a rent roll and trailing-12-month operating statement, your business plan and renovation budget, and sponsor financials. Larger assets may also need a property condition report and an environmental review. We will give you a clear checklist up front.

Most bridge loans are recourse with a personal guarantee, while lower-leverage non-recourse can be possible on stronger assets. Cash-out is available when there is equity to support it. We structure recourse and leverage around the specific deal.