About Hickory CRE
Hickory CRE Lending provides flexible capital solutions for U.S. real estate sponsors and the brokers who represent them. We provide stretch senior, debt-like preferred equity, and mezzanine loans for pre-development, bridge, construction, acquisition, and refinancing transactions nationwide.
Strategic Real Estate Lending
Our direct-to-decision-maker process allows us to move quickly and structure creatively—offering flexibility on leverage, pricing, recourse, non-CRE collateral, and other key terms when deals don’t fit a standard box.
We specialize in banking strong sponsors who operate in opportunistic, overlooked, or fragmented markets where availability of capital, pricing, and risk are inconsistent
A Trusted Real Estate Capital Partner
We take pride in being a long-term partner. With in-house loan servicing, we work through surprises alongside our borrowers and brokers, building durable relationships and repeat business—while helping bring much-needed housing to market across the U.S.
Our team brings deep experience across credit, underwriting, and asset management, enabling disciplined execution through every stage of the lending process. With a relationship-driven approach and an emphasis on speed, certainty, and thoughtful structuring, Hickory partners closely with sponsors to navigate complexity and deliver reliable capital in evolving market conditions.
Tim has over 35 years of experience sourcing, structuring, and executing transactions.
Tim established Hickory CRE Capital and Hickory CRE Lending in 2018, at the time he closed a transaction with a seed capital investor. Tim was a partner at DW Partners and co-head of commercial real estate until April 2018. There he spearheaded the growth of private credit businesses, including creating a CRE lending business and originated ~$500MM of loans. He also built a European CRE Platform with the acquisition of 43 buildings for ~€500MM. Previously, Tim spent four years at Barclays Capital, in credit trading; two years at Pardus Capital, a credit hedge fund; and nine years at Debevoise & Plimpton, as a deal lawyer. Tim started his career at Chemical Bank, where he went through credit training.
Tim has a JD and an MBA from The University of Chicago and a BA from Yale University; he also received the CFA designation.
Tim Bass
Matt has over 20 years of experience in CRE sourcing, underwriting, workouts, capital raising (debt and equity) and investor reporting across all major product types.
Previously Matt founded Aspen Analytics in 2014, a CRE consulting firm offering transaction support to a variety of US-based clients. In 2010 Matt joined Hudson Advisors/Lone Star Funds where he became a Vice President. There he managed a team across the Dallas and Frankfurt offices, and contributed to underwriting, onboarding, workouts, fundraising, and portfolio reporting. Previously he spent years in consulting and brokerage supporting Realogic, DBRS, Marcus & Millichap, Cohen Financial and numerous other financial institutions.
Matt has a dual BS in Finance and Commercial Real Estate from DePaul University and has continued graduate coursework at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management.
Matt Schneider
Hickory’s Journey
2018
Company Founded
Hickory was established with a mission to provide strategic real estate lending, focusing on disciplined underwriting and long-term value creation.
2017
Expansion Into Multi-Market Brokerage
Hickory expanded its services beyond North Carolina, taking on larger commercial, industrial, and mixed-use projects across multiple regional markets.
2020
Asset Management Division Launched
The firm introduced a dedicated asset management capability, enabling full-cycle oversight from acquisition through stabilization — for institutional and private clients.
2023
Portfolio Growth & Full-Service Platform
Hickory reached a diversified portfolio across office, retail, land, and development assets, evolving into a vertically aligned platform offering acquisition, disposition, advisory, and leasing services.
