John Migliozzi
Name: John Migliozzi
Title: Executive Vice President, Lending, East Boston Savings Bank
Age: 59
Experience: 30-plus years
It’s fitting to see John Migliozzi featured in Banker & Tradesman: He began his banking career as a real estate appraiser at Boston Five Cents Savings Bank, but he got into the lending side of the business when he saw an ad in the pages of B&T. East Boston Savings Bank needed a lender. That was nearly 20 years ago, and Migliozzi has grown with the bank over that time. Recently, he chatted with B&T about what East Boston Savings has been up to lately and his outlook so far this year.
Q: Tell B&T’s readers a little bit about your recent lending activity at East Boston Savings Bank.
A: We do a lot in Southie and a lot in the city of Boston. We have a lot in all the neighborhoods. We’ve worked on several condo projects in the city of Boston, and we’ve got about 100 units in South Boston we’re doing right now. I think the city is vibrant, and I think the city is a place where people want to live. I think there’s a demand right now for condos. We have another [condo] project on the Greenway right on Broad Street. That’s going to be a beautiful project.
But we do a variety. We do industrial. We do office buildings. We do some retail. We do hotels. We do a little bit of everything. Industrial is not the sexy part of real estate. No one’s really building it unless there’s a tenant already, but there’s a demand for it, especially close into the city. We’ve done a few nice deals that we’re really happy about because there’s a scarcity of it.
Obviously, the office market is strong because the job market is good. We’ve done some nice office stuff. The industrial piece of it is really an interesting one because it gets left behind.
Retail is obviously changing because of the Internet. You’ve got to make sure your tenants are tenants that people have to go to. You still have to go out to get your hair cut, you have to go out to get your nails done, so stuff like that.
Real estate excites me. The deals, the locations, I love it. The most interesting thing is that probably when I first started 20 years ago, people didn’t want to move into the city.
Q: Really?
A: Well, yeah. You know, most people wanted to move to the suburbs and have the big house and the white picket fence and now it’s totally the opposite. Everyone wants to live in the city, everyone wants to take an Uber to restaurants and do their thing. That’s probably one of the biggest changes. The city is hot, hot, hot. And I think it’s hot locally, it’s hot nationally, it’s hot internationally. We’ve got a lot of foreign investment in the city. It’s just a great place to be.
I see Millennials waiting to purchase, so they’re filling up rentals. That’s the big change, as far as the purchase and the rental market. We respond to that by having those services available for people’s needs. We’ve financed a number of high-end condos and on the residential side we have products that meet the needs of the first-time buyer and the luxury buyer. I think you’ve just got to be reactive and see what’s going on in the marketplace.
Q: Describe your outlook for the next year, year and a half.
A: Right now we’re still busy. Interest rates are going up, we realize that. I think there will be some leveling off and I think that we continue to be optimistic about the economy and the real estate market, but I see it as being in like the sixth or seventh inning of a nine-inning game. We had such a huge run up, obviously there has to be some leveling off because at some point, people can’t pay $5,000 a month for rent. It’s got to level off. It’s got to find its level and that’s what it’s doing. I think you’ll see a little backing off from some of the new construction, too – especially the luxury market.
Q: So what does that mean for East Boston Savings Bank?
A: Well, in the apartment market, we like the class B market. People have to live and they can’t pay all those luxury rents, so we like that. And we have to look at deals on a case by case basis with price points and good sponsors and just make sure there’s a little cushion there. People don’t have to be at the edge all the time.
Migliozzi’s Top Five Films:
- “The Godfather”
- “Rocky”
- “Saving Private Ryan”
- “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
- “It’s a Wonderful Life”
