Avila Real Estate Capital Group Closes Inaugural Debt Fund, Expands Originations Team
The real estate credit platform has closed its debt fund, securing commitments in excess of $700 million.
4 MIN READ
August 7, 2025
Avila Real Estate Capital (AREC), a private real estate credit platform focused on residential development and home building, recently announced the closing of its inaugural debt fund and the expansion of its originations team with five senior hires.
In July, AREC closed its first dedicated real estate debt fund, securing total commitments and co-investments in excess of $700 million. Since its inception in 2022, AREC has originated over $1 billion in loans and supported the delivery of over 10,000 residential lots.
The debt fund is focused exclusively on lending to the home building sector, providing acquisition, development, and construction first mortgages across key growth markets. Fund investors include a mix of institutional, corporate, and high-net-worth investors, including prominent builders, executives, pensions, endowments, and insurance companies. As part of the funding, AREC also closed two strategic facilities: a $50 million subscription facility and a $200 million leverage facility to finance vertical construction loans.
Oscar Vasquez, chief operating officer of AREC, says the funding is a validation of AREC’s strategy and of the need for flexible private credit to serve the home building industry.
“We watched the retrenchment of capital of the sector over the years firsthand. We saw really great projects getting stranded due to the lack of capital and the lack of creative and smart capital that understood the projects,” Vasquez tells BUILDER. “Given the challenging capital markets and how hard it is to fundraise these days, we were really proud of what we were able to accomplish. This is a great validation of our strategy.”
CEO Tony Avila says there is sustained demand from builders and developers who need capital partners that bring “certainty, creativity, and experience to the table.”
“With the close of our first fund and the expansion of our team, AREC is well-positioned to meet this demand and continue scaling our platform to support new housing supply across the country,” Avila said in a news release.
The recent high visibility failures of regional banks, including Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank, accelerated the trend of capital exiting the residential real estate sector. While the public home builders are able to access capital from Wall Street, there are hundreds of private builders and developers experiencing more difficult capital conditions. The complexity of the sector, the expertise of the AREC team, and the smart capital the team can provide are key to the organization’s success, Vasquez says.
“We don’t think the banks are going to come rushing back and there is always going to be a need to finance residential projects,” Vasquez tells BUILDER. “Demand for housing is still considerably greater than supply in America which in turn drives demand for efficient and intelligent capital for developers and home builders. We think this is a great space to be in.”
Expansion of AREC Originations Team
To support the future growth of AREC, the organization has hired a new chief lending officer and senior industry professionals with more than 120 years of combined experience across residential construction lending, acquisition and development financing, vertical construction, portfolio management, and risk oversight to its originations team.
“We are extremely excited about the team that we have brought on board because of their breadth and experience,” Vasquez says. “The people on our expanded originations team have issued loans to more than 85% of the top 200 builders in the last five years. The breadth of our reach in the industry is incredible. The combination of that breadth of relationships as well as our depth of expertise is something we are very proud of.”
The new members of the AREC team include:
- John Brimberry as chief lending officer. He brings more than 30 years of experience in building and managing high-performing lending platforms and will oversee AREC’s acquisition and development and vertical construction loan programs.
- Nathan Cichon as a director of home builder finance. He has managed portfolios exceeding $700 million and brings a strong understanding of credit structuring and borrower relationships across regional and national markets to AREC.
- Jerry Schillaci as a director of home builder finance. He has originated and structured over $1 billion in acquisition and development and vertical construction commitments during his career.
- Drew Szilagyi as a director of home builder finance. He previously managed a $1.5 billion portfolio and has expertise in underwriting, credit quality, and strategic client support.
- Phillip Trujillo as director of home builder finance. Over his two-decade career, Trujillo has structured loans for builders ranging from 50 to 2,000 annual closings, offering expertise across a broad range of financial structures.
