SALT LAKE CITY, UT and LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - Jul 21, 2011) - Salt Lake City and Las Vegas-based real estate investment firm Taylor Capital Group has launched the Mountain West Debt Fund™, a new way for commercial property owners to secure timely, flexible loans at a time when traditional bank financing can be very difficult to attain.

The Mountain West Debt Fund fills a gap in the real estate development market. The fund's strategy is to pool investors to provide funding to established real estate developers, enabling them to correct, complete or maintain their projects. Because of that, the Mountain West Debt Fund keeps real estate moving despite difficult times in the banking and finance sector.

"We fill a unique space in between traditional banks, and hard money lenders. Traditional banks have capital on hand, but are not lending like they used to. Hard money lenders tend to be inexperienced, expensive, and severely restrictive in how they operate. This dysfunction in the lending system has created a tremendous void, forcing reputable builders and developers to seek other financing," said Mark Taylor, Principal and Managing Director of the Mountain West Debt Fund. "What we are doing with the Mountain West Debt Fund is unique, and we provide an extremely necessary service -- access to sophisticated financing at a reasonable rate."

The Mountain West Debt Fund is a Delaware limited partnership organized by an experienced team of real estate investment professionals, led by Taylor and Managing Director Rocky Derrick.

"Our team has extensive experience in the real estate development business, and our contacts repeatedly told us of the difficulty they have securing any financing from banks, and that the lack of financing is stalling their business recovery," Taylor said. "We created the Mountain West Debt Fund to provide needed capital to real estate companies who are trying to keep real estate businesses alive in the western United States."

Salt Lake City native Taylor was former COO of CM Group, a nationally recognized real estate investment company. At CM Group, he helped restructure and reposition a $600 million portfolio that was in distress. Taylor also served as a founding partner and Senior VP of Acquisitions at WestCorp Management Group, where he and his partners built the company from a small property management company into one of the 50 largest property managers in the U.S. While there he also directed the acquisition of approximately $600 million in multifamily properties in an 18-month period. Prior to WestCorp, Taylor served as the Chief Operating Officer of FSHP Builders/Creative Sales and Marketing, where he achieved more than $550 million in sales over a three-year period and assisted in the development of more than $200 million in medical office buildings, hotels, condos, and other commercial projects.

Derrick, originally from Salt Lake City, has practiced real estate development, asset management and lending throughout Utah, Nevada, California and Idaho. Most recently, Derrick has done consulting work for multiple REIT's, public and private equity funds, lenders, developers and institutional asset managers. Derrick's projects have included underwriting, analysis and workout strategies of more than $1 billion in loans and assets. Most recently he led the underwriting and evaluation of more than $1.4 billion in FDIC and other distressed commercial loan portfolios. Derrick also served as the Senior VP for CM Capital Services in Las Vegas, building and managing the real estate asset management and underwriting teams, which managed more than $600 million in distressed loans and assets. Prior to CM he was the VP of Acquisitions and Development for Seegmiller Partners where he personally managed over $100MM in Class A commercial development in Southern California and Las Vegas.

Taylor said, "We are from this region, have a strong personal desire to help people here get their businesses back on the right track. We believe the Mountain West Debt Fund can be an important tool in that process."

For more information on Taylor Capital Group or the Mountain West Debt Fund, visit www.tcapitalgroup.com or call (801) 415-0024.