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Searching for the best bridge loan lenders in Florida turns up a confusing mix, and the reason is that three completely different businesses use the same words. Some results are consumer lenders helping a homeowner buy before they sell. Most are residential investor lenders funding single-family fix-and-flips. A few are commercial lenders financing income-producing property. They are not substitutes, and picking from the wrong group is how a commercial borrower loses three weeks.
This guide is about commercial bridge financing in Florida — retail, industrial, multifamily, hospitality and mixed-use, generally $1 million and up. The next section will tell you plainly whether you are on the right page.
Bridge Loan or Hard Money Loan: Which Do You Actually Need in Florida?
Three distinct markets share this vocabulary. Find yourself here first.
You are selling a house and want to buy the next one before it closes. You need a consumer or residential bridge loan from a mortgage lender or credit union. Nothing on this page applies to you, and a commercial lender cannot help — different licensing, different underwriting, different product. Ask a residential mortgage broker about a bridge or a HELOC.
You are buying, renovating and reselling a single-family house, or building spec homes. You want a residential investor lender — Easy Street Capital, Lima One Capital, Kiavi and similar national platforms are built precisely for this, with loans starting as low as $75,000 and closings measured in days. A commercial lender’s minimum will be well above your deal size.
You are buying, repositioning or refinancing income-producing commercial property in Florida — a retail centre, an industrial building, a hotel, a 20-unit apartment building — and you need short-term capital because the asset does not yet support permanent debt. That is what this page covers. In this market the words “bridge loan” and “hard money loan” are used almost interchangeably; what actually differs between lenders is who funds the loan, how they price risk, and what they need to see before closing.
For the difference between the various flavours of private capital, see our guide to hard money versus private money lenders.
What Florida Borrowers Use Commercial Bridge Financing For
- Insurance-driven refinancing. Florida’s defining commercial underwriting variable is property insurance. Premiums flow straight through net operating income, and a repriced policy can drop a stabilized asset’s debt-service coverage below what a permanent lender will fund. Bridge capital carries the property while coverage is re-bid and NOI is rebuilt. This is the state’s single largest bridge driver.
- Acquisition on a hard deadline — 1031 exchange windows and competitive escrows where a 60-day bank process is not survivable.
- Lease-up on newly delivered space — industrial and retail along the I-4 corridor and in Southwest Florida that needs occupancy before permanent debt.
- Hotel PIP and renovation — brand-mandated property improvement plans, funded and then refinanced once the property re-stabilises.
- Maturity gaps — loans written at lower rates that will not refinance conventionally on today’s income.
What to Look For in a Florida Bridge Lender
- Is it a lender, a broker, or a marketplace? Several top results are directories that sell your enquiry to multiple lenders, and others are brokers who place your loan elsewhere. Both can work, but you should know which you are talking to.
- Commercial or residential? Ask what share of their book is commercial income-producing property versus 1–4 unit residential. This is the question that saves the most time in Florida.
- What is the minimum and maximum loan? Ranges in this market run from $40,000 to $100 million. Being outside a lender’s range is the most common reason a good deal stalls.
- How is the loan funded? A balance-sheet lender or a discretionary fund controls its own credit decision. Federal Reserve research documents how a bank’s deposit base constrains its commercial real estate lending capacity — one reason transitional deals leave the banking system entirely.
- What is the exit? A bridge lender who does not ask hard questions about your take-out is not protecting you. See section ten.
Best Bridge Loan Lenders in Florida
1. AVANA Capital
AVANA Capital is a direct commercial real estate lender — not a broker or a marketplace — with $1.7 billion in loans closed over 23+ years and lending coverage in all 50 states. Its bridge program is backed by a joint venture with Oaktree Capital, which is the substantive point on a page like this: the capital behind the loan is institutional rather than a pooled private fund, and it is committed to commercial property.
Loans generally run $1 million to $30 million across bridge, construction and permanent debt, with the deepest property-type experience in hospitality and industrial. For Florida that combination matters — hotels are the asset class most generalist lenders cap, and insurance-repriced commercial property is the state’s most common transitional situation. AVANA-financed projects have supported 5,000+ jobs created in the USA.
Best fit: commercial bridge from $5M–$30M, hospitality and industrial, insurance-repriced assets, out-of-state sponsors, deadline-driven acquisitions.
2. Banyan Commercial Capital
Based in Boca Raton, Banyan arranges commercial bridge financing in Florida for acquisition, value-add and repositioning from $5 million to $100 million+, with non-recourse options, and reports having closed over $2 billion in transactions across debt, mezzanine, preferred equity and JV equity. Important distinction: Banyan is a commercial mortgage broker and capital advisor, not a balance-sheet lender — it places your loan with capital sources rather than funding it directly.
Best fit: larger Florida commercial deals ($5M+) and complex capital stacks where an advisor sourcing multiple tranches adds genuine value.
3. New Wave Loans
New Wave Loans describes itself as Florida’s largest private lender, issuing loans from $200,000 to $15,000,000 at a maximum 65% LTV with terms of one to three years, and normally producing a term sheet within 48 hours. It states a focus on commercial assets with material equity or income potential — making it one of the more genuinely commercial private lenders in the Florida SERP.
Best fit: Florida commercial and mixed-use deals in the low-to-mid millions where speed to term sheet is the priority.
4. Benworth Capital
Established in 2008, Benworth Capital lends on both residential and commercial Florida property, with loans from $40,000 to $4,000,000, a maximum 65% LTV and terms starting at 12 months. It positions itself as the alternative when bank financing is unavailable.
Best fit: smaller Florida deals, including sub-$1 million commercial and residential property — below where most institutional bridge lenders start.
5. Easy Street Capital
Easy Street Capital is a national residential-investor lender, not a commercial one — its programs are EasyFix (fix-and-flip), EasyRent (DSCR rental) and EasyBuild (construction), aimed at residential investment property. It closes quickly, sometimes within 48 hours, with hard-money rates reported in roughly the 8.9%–13.9% range.
Best fit: single-family and small residential investment deals in Florida. Included here because it ranks prominently for Florida hard-money searches — but if you own commercial property, it is not the right call.
Bridge Loan Rates, Points and Terms in Florida
Bridge pricing is genuinely wide, and any lender quoting one number without seeing the asset is guessing. Based on publicly stated ranges across the lenders above and comparable Florida private capital:
| Commercial bridge (institutional) | Hard money / private | Conventional permanent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate | Index + spread; typically well below hard money | Roughly 8%–14% | Lowest of the three |
| Points | 1–2 typical | 2–4 common | 0–1 |
| Term | 12–36 months | 6–24 months | 5–25 years |
| Max LTV / LTC | Sized to loan-to-cost on transitional assets | Commonly 60%–65% of value | 65%–75% LTV |
| Speed | Faster than a bank; slower than 48 hours | Days | 45–75 days |
| Best fit | Income-producing CRE, $1M+ | Small balance, residential, distressed | Stabilized, clean insurance |
Two Florida-specific points. First, bring a current insurance binder — lenders underwrite the policy in force, not last year’s, and a stale binder with outdated replacement-cost limits will be repriced during diligence, cutting your proceeds late. Second, expect the lender to underwrite hurricane-season timing on any coastal asset.
How AVANA Capital Lends in Florida
AVANA underwrites from its own balance sheet with Oaktree-backed bridge capital, which changes three things for a Florida borrower.
The insurance problem is treated as a structuring question rather than a decline. An asset whose coverage has been repriced and whose DSCR has temporarily compressed is a recognisable situation, not an anomaly. Second, there is no Florida footprint and no in-state entity requirement, so a Naples retail centre with a sponsor entity in Atlanta is a routine file. Third, hospitality is a core competency, which matters in a state where a large share of commercial property is lodging.
Loan sizes run $5 million to $30 million. For how AVANA compares to bridge lenders nationally, see our guide to the best commercial bridge loan lenders, and our commercial bridge loan product page for terms.
Bridge Financing by Florida Market: Miami-Dade, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Southwest Florida
Miami-Dade and Broward. The deepest and most insurance-exposed market in the state. Wind deductibles and replacement-cost gaps drive both pricing and proceeds; bridge dominates where a buyer must close before coverage can be re-bid.
Orlando and the I-4 corridor. The most active industrial and retail development corridor in Florida, plus tourism-adjacent commercial demand. Lease-up bridge on newly delivered space is the recurring need.
Tampa Bay. Broad commercial demand including office-to-residential conversion candidates. Conversion carries execution risk rather than rent-roll risk, which is exactly what conventional lenders avoid.
Jacksonville. Port and logistics-driven industrial at a lower basis than South Florida, frequently sponsor-driven from out of state — the profile where footprint-limited lenders create friction.
Southwest Florida (Naples, Fort Myers). High-value retail and hospitality with the state’s most acute storm-exposure underwriting. Lenders without hurricane-market experience price defensively or pass.
The Exit Is the Whole Deal: How to Refinance Out of a Bridge Loan
A bridge loan is a plan with a deadline, and the plan is the exit. Before you sign, you should be able to state which of three exits you are underwriting to, and what has to be true for it to happen.
Refinance into permanent debt. The most common exit. It requires the asset to be stabilized enough for a conventional lender’s DSCR test — in Florida, on current insurance costs. Model it with the repriced premium, not the seller’s number.
Refinance into SBA 504. For owner-occupied commercial property, a bridge-to-504 path can work well, since SBA 504 financing offers long fixed-rate amortisation at low equity. It takes longer, so start the process well before maturity.
Sale. Legitimate, but it makes your exit dependent on the transaction market at a specific future date.
The failure mode is a bridge loan taken without a tested exit, then a maturity arriving with the asset still short of stabilisation. Build a real interest reserve, assume the timeline slips, and read our guide to bridge-to-permanent refinancing before committing. Extension options are worth more than a slightly lower rate.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bridge Loans in Florida
The Bottom Line on Florida Bridge Loan Lenders
The best bridge loan lenders in Florida depend entirely on which market you are actually in. If you are flipping houses, Easy Street Capital and the national residential platforms are purpose-built for you and a commercial lender is not. If your deal is under $1 million, Benworth Capital lends where institutional bridge capital does not reach. If you need $5 million-plus with a complex capital stack, an advisor like Banyan can assemble tranches a single lender will not.
If you own income-producing Florida commercial property — a hotel carrying a PIP, an industrial building in lease-up, a retail centre whose insurance repricing has temporarily broken its coverage ratio — you need a direct commercial lender funding from its own balance sheet, with a real exit conversation and no footprint boundary. That is where AVANA Capital lends: commercial bridge from $5 million to $30 million, backed by a joint venture with Oaktree Capital, in Florida and all 50 states, on the strength of 23+ years and $1.7 billion in closed loans.
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