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About Us

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Oak Street
Capital

Oak Street Capital is a Real Estate Investment and Financing company focused on private equity investment, mezzanine financing, land acquisition and improvement loans, construction loans, bridge loans, debt financing, lending consultation and real estate brokerage. Our typical financing zone ranges from from $5M to $500M.

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Oak Street Capital’s mission as a financial advisory firm is to provide our clients with the best capital stack options for their commercial project or asset that optimizes their financial position and returns consistently.

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Our Team

Brian Hampton, Principal

Mr. Hampton founded Oak Street Capital in 2003. With more than 30 years in real estate he has successfully closed more than $2 billion in transactions in real estate brokerage and financing. His extensive experience includes debt refinancing and restructuring, mezzanine loan executions, preferred and joint venture equity, private equity. Mr. Hampton has extensive experience structuring and closing construction loans and bridge loans as well.

 

Career Highlights

  • Illinois Real Estate Managing Broker since 2004.

  • Successfully structured and closed hundreds of transactions.

  • Successfully closed more than $1 billion in transactions in real estate brokerage and financing over the last 36 months.

 

Areas of Expertise

  • Commercial Real Estate

  • REO/Distressed Real Estate

  • Private, Preferred, JV Equity

  • FNMA,FDMA, FHA

  • CMBS, Conduit

  •  Mezzanine Loans

  • Asset types include: Multi-Family, Mixed Use, Senior Housing, Hospitality, Industrial and Office

  • Acquisition Financing and Asset Refinancing

  • Adaptive Re-use Financing

  • Bridge Loans

  • Construction/Development Loans

  • Illinois Real Estate Managing Broker

Myles C. Milek, Senior Advisor & Founder of Ridgewood Capital

Mr. Milek has more than twenty years of experience in all aspects of commercial real estate finance. Having successfully launched and managed multi-regional commercial real estate divisions for two national banks and developed a nationwide network of real estate developers/owners, investors, lenders, and regulators, Mr. Milek has structured more than $5 billion in senior debt financing. In addition, he has extensive experience developing equity and mezzanine facilities across multiple product lines. His experience includes providing strategic solutions for debt restructurings, and dispositions, asset valuations, liquidation strategies, and portfolio assessments. Mr. Milek specializes in completing risk assessments and action plans for distressed financial institutions.  Additionally, Mr. Milek has created risk rating systems, including the real time asset modeling & valuation models and has extensive experience in developing loan policies and procedures. Mr. Milek founded Ridgewood Capital, a real estate advisory firm, in 2008.

 

Career Highlights

  • Engaged in four portfolio, asset risk assessments, and asset management services for more than $12 billion in commitments on behalf of the FDIC.

  • Provided interim loan servicing, credit and management oversight, direct disbursement payments, risk reports and on-going validation services on behalf of the FDIC.

  • Established capital/equity programs and special purpose/JV entities in order to improve financial institutions’ Tier 1 capital levels while providing asset management, loan servicing and asset liquidation solutions.

  • Participated as asset manager and lead underwriter for over $5 billion of portfolio acquisition bids.

  • Sourced more than $150 million in off-market acquisitions and arranged more than $100 million in equity and debt placements over the last 36 months.

Pawel (Paul) Hardej, Principal Consultant

Pawel (Paul) Hardej is an architect, developer, entitlement expert and community steward. He combines the vision and passion of a long-time entrepreneur with the steady hand and structured approach of a corporate professional, allowing him to interface naturally with a wide range of clients and partners. He has been directly responsible for the acquisition, design, development or redevelopment of almost $2 billion of mixed-use, condominium, multi-family communities totaling over 2,000 units, as well as multiple retail and entertainment properties. Pawel has also negotiated millions of dollars in incentives, tax credit deals and complex entitlements and is considered a zoning and urban planning expert.

 

Prior to founding Metropolitan, he was an Executive Vice President at Lincoln Ventures and also served as Vice President of Development at Intracorp, one of North America’s largest residential developers, where he managed the development of multiple projects, including the 49-story 44 East condominium high-rise project in downtown Austin, TX. Pawel started his career in Chicago, IL, his first adopted hometown in the United States as the founder and CEO of Metropolitan Development Enterprises where he developed numerous award winning mid-rise and town home projects over a ten-year stretch.

 

A native of Warsaw, Poland and now residing in Austin, TX, Pawel studied Architecture at both Warsaw Politechnic University and at the University of Detroit Mercy and also at the International Academy of Merchandising & Design in Chicago.

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