Robert Kravitz doesn’t talk about lending in theories. He speaks in results. After decades of structuring, financing, restructuring and closing deals with its own capital, its authority comes from repetition, discipline and survival through market cycles.
Kravitz is president and managing partner of NFRC Companies. He works as a direct lender, capital stack manager and deal strategist in commercial real estate, residential bridge loans and corporate finance. His role is not just advisory in name. He controls capital, signs batches, and works through problems to resolution.
“The implementation is the job,” says Kravitz. “Everything else is noise.”
A banking tradition that shaped a long-term perspective
Kravitz’s authority is rooted in history. His grandfather, Morris Levin, was a founding partner of Eastern Savings Bank, one of the first major commercial banks in the United States. The bank operated from the 1960s to 2007 and received the SBA guarantee in the 1980s.
This background raised expectations early on.
“When you lend your own capital, the accountability is different,” Kravitz says. “You quickly learn what works and what doesn’t.”
His family has been a correspondent lender, providing agency funding, since the early 1980s. Lending was never abstract. It was operational, long-term and directly tied to performance.
Early Career: Learning the Full Capital Stack
Kravitz grew up in Pennsylvania and later lived in New York City before settling in Florida. He graduated from the University of Delaware and began working in finance with a focus on real estate-backed lending.
He later helped found and manage Commercial Loan Capital, where the company closed more than 2,800 real estate loans. These ranged from initial commercial loans to preferred capital, mezzanine financing and construction loans.
“You don’t dominate this business by making a product,” he says. “You master it by understanding how each level works together.”
This experience gave Kravitz extensive insight into underwriting, structuring, asset management and exits on thousands of transactions.
Building NFRC and controlling the deal
Since 1998, Kravitz has personally closed more than 3,200 residential, commercial and business loans using private capital. Through NFRC Companies and its affiliates, he manages the deployment of capital in senior debt, preferred equity and mezzanine structures.
NFRC focuses primarily on financing commercial properties between $1 million and $100 million. The company is also heavily involved in bridging financing for residential and commercial properties.
“All told, our direct partnership groups manage approximately $2.7 billion,” says Kravitz. “In addition, I oversee and support more than $11 billion in aligned capital holdings to which we are signatories.”
Kravitz also owns 100% of NFRC and its affiliates, including NFRC Capital Resources and NFRC Commercial Workout & Advisory. This ownership structure gives it control over the entire life cycle of a business.
“Control is important,” he says. “How to act decisively when conditions change.”
Authority earned in difficult situations
One of Kravitz’s key strengths is his work in difficult and underperforming situations. Since 2008, NFRC has operated an in-house workout and advisory group that addresses problem loans, restructures capital and resolves complex ownership disputes.
“Anyone can finance clean deals,” he says. “The real test is what you do when something breaks.”
Kravitz has repeatedly entered into failed transactions, brokered investors, bought out partners, sold assets or refinanced businesses out of necessity.
“We’re always taking broken situations and turning them into workable outcomes,” he says. “Experience shows that.”
This work spans multiple downturns and market changes, giving him a practical understanding of risk that cannot be learned in stable times.
Beyond lending: ownership and advisory work
Kravitz’s authority also relies on operating on multiple sides of transactions. He owns Atlantic Commercial Properties and Atlantic M&A Advisory and represents buyers and sellers of real estate and non-real estate businesses.
These firms handle procurement, valuation, negotiations and exits. In many cases, Kravitz and his partners also finance or invest in the transactions directly.
“If you’ve been the lender, the owner and the seller, you see the deals clearly,” he says.
This transparency allows him to structure transactions with fewer surprises and faster execution.
Systems, discipline and daily control
Kravitz runs his processes in a structured and documented manner. He relies on assistants, detailed journals and proprietary CRM systems to track trades, counterparties and schedules.
“Scaling doesn’t happen without systems,” he says. “Precision is non-negotiable.”
He also emphasizes continuous learning.
“They assert themselves intelligently,” he says. “And you get better every day.”
A definition of mastery
Outside of work, Kravitz enjoys baseball, traveling, sports and stand-up comedy. But professionally, his focus remains narrow and consistent.
“Closing deals and fixing problems is life-changing,” he says. “That’s the work.”
After decades in the lending business, Robert Kravitz operates with the confidence of someone who has seen every version of a deal. His authority is not claimed. It is earned through venture capital, achieved results and maintaining control across cycles.
