🎥 Benefit Street Partners' Michael Comparato - the opportunity in commercial real estate credit

About this episode

Michael Comparato discusses his journey in commercial real estate credit investing and the strategies of Benefit Street Partners.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. Today’s episode brings commercial real estate credit investing to life with someone who has real estate in his blood. Michael Comparato ’s grandfather started building single-family homes in upstate New York in 1946. He built his first shopping center in 1958. Michael was born into a family where he was on construction sites from a young age. At 13, he was doing landscaping. At 15, he was hanging drywall. Today, Michael is a Senior Managing Director, Head of Real Estate and Portfolio Manager with Benefit Street Partners , as well as Chief Executive Officer of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: FBRT). He also serves on the US Executive Committee. Prior to joining BSP in 2015, Michael was Head of U.S. Equity Investments at Ladder Capital. Before that, he was President at Bank Atlantic Commercial Mortgage Capital. Benefit Street Partners is part of Franklin Templeton’s family of specialists in private markets. BSP is a specialized private credit firm with over $92B in AUM. The firm manages a wide range of private credit strategies, including direct lending, special situations, commercial real estate debt, infrastructure debt…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Sidgmore

Guest: Michael Comparato

Topics covered

• commercial real estate
• credit investing
• private credit
• real estate management
• investment strategies

Keywords

• commercial real estate
• credit investing
• Benefit Street Partners
• Franklin Templeton
• real estate credit

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Benefit Street Partners, Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc, Franklin Templeton, Ladder Capital, Bank Atlantic Commercial Mortgage Capital

Places: upstate New York

More episodes of Alt Goes Mainstream

• 🎥 Juventus' Giorgio Chiellini - life lessons in sports and business from a world-class performer on and off the field · June 11, 2026 · 1h 1m
• 🎥 Bank of America's Mark Sutterlin - why being a good investor in private markets is table stakes · June 4, 2026 · 56 min
• 🎥 73 Strings' Yann Magnan - unlocking valuation intelligence in private markets · May 7, 2026 · 47 min
• 🎥 Hamilton Lane's Hartley Rogers - pioneering private markets: Live from iCapital Connect · May 5, 2026 · 37 min
• 🎥 Lincoln International's Brian Garfield - how is AI impacting private markets valuations? · April 30, 2026 · 49 min
• 🎥 Bridgepoint's Xavier Robert - building a "middle market global champion" · April 23, 2026 · 41 min