How New City Financial underwrites warehouse & distribution financing
Industrial and logistics real estate is one of the most cash-flow-driven asset classes in commercial lending, and New City Financial underwrites it that way. Rather than leaning on your personal tax returns, we start with the facility's own numbers — the net operating income it produces and the debt-service coverage ratio (DSCR) that income supports. Warehouse and distribution buildings typically carry long, stable leases and comparatively low operating expenses, which tends to produce clean, predictable cash flow that underwrites well. Deals that clear a 1.0 DSCR or better, backed by credible in-place or projected rents, sit squarely in our lane. That approach lets an investor, an operating company, or an LLC finance a distribution asset without the multi-year income documentation a conventional bank would demand.
On terms, we lend up to 75% of value, on loan amounts from $75,000 to $50 million, with a FICO floor of 500 and closings in under three weeks when title and third-party reports move on schedule. Fixed-rate structures over 3, 8, and 30 years — with no balloon payments — give industrial owners a debt cost they can lock down and plan around, which matters when a single tenant's lease anchors the building's income for years at a time. We lend across 40+ states as a commercial lending firm, and any rates referenced on this site are illustrative only; your pricing depends on the asset, its market, your leverage, and sponsor experience.
Warehouse & distribution deals we finance
We finance the full range of the warehouse and distribution market: bulk distribution centers, last-mile and infill logistics facilities, cross-dock terminals, cold-storage and refrigerated warehouses, and flex buildings that pair warehouse space with a modest office component. Single-tenant properties leased to a creditworthy logistics or manufacturing occupant are a natural fit, and so are multi-tenant industrial parks with staggered leases. Owner-occupied facilities are eligible as business-purpose loans — if your operating company distributes out of the building it owns, that occupancy strengthens rather than complicates the file. Physical characteristics that drive industrial value, such as clear height, dock-door count, truck-court depth, and available power, all factor into how we size the loan against the asset.
Because every loan is business-purpose, we do not finance primary residences; we work with investors and business owners, not consumer homebuyers. Common business plans include acquisition of a stabilized or under-leased building, value-add repositioning — upgrading loading, lighting, or sprinkler systems and re-tenanting to lift NOI — rate-and-term refinance to replace a maturing or higher-cost loan, and cash-out refinance to free equity for the next purchase or a capital-improvement budget. If you are trying to decide whether a specific distribution facility pencils, the quickest path is a short conversation about the lease or rent roll, the in-place NOI, and your plan for the property.
What to expect when you finance a warehouse or distribution facility
Because our decision is driven by the property rather than your personal income, the file we ask for is straightforward and focused on the asset. For a leased building that usually means the current lease or rent roll, a simple operating statement showing income and expenses, and basic information on the sponsor or operating entity behind the loan. For an owner-occupied facility, we look at how the business uses the space and the cash flow it supports. Keeping that package clean and current is the single biggest factor in reaching a closing in under three weeks, because it lets our underwriting, title work, and third-party reports run in parallel instead of waiting on missing documents.
Industrial and logistics assets tend to underwrite cleanly for reasons that are structural to the property type. Leases are frequently long and net in nature, which pushes many operating costs onto the tenant and leaves owners with durable, predictable income. Physical features that the market values — ample clear height, sufficient dock doors, deep truck courts, heavy power, and proximity to highways or population centers — reinforce both current rents and long-term re-leasing prospects. We weigh all of these when sizing a loan against the asset. And because our fixed-rate structures over 3, 8, and 30 years carry no balloon payments, an owner can match durable industrial income against an equally durable, planned-out debt cost, rather than facing a refinance cliff partway through the hold. Any rates you see referenced are illustrative only; final pricing follows the building, the market, the leverage, and the sponsor.
