Banks tighten commercial RE loans: Developers weigh financing options

The lending market for commercial real estate projects is getting tighter, with many banks bumping up against their loan limits.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sets specific guidelines about how much a bank can lend out for different classes of projects. The size of the bank determines the lending limits the government imposes on them and each bank then chooses its own lending limit below that figure.

“Sometimes, they match it and sometimes they go well below that,” said W. Scott Reichenberg, president/principal of The Colorado Group Inc. in Boulder.

If they get a request…