Ashley Wilkens

Ashley Wilkens is a force to be reckoned with in the senior housing market. Her commitment to transforming the lives of residents in underserved communities is evidenced in the speed and efficiency by which she underwrites deals and invests in socially-impactful developments. Colleagues say Wilkens has been successful because she creatively finds new ways to utilize commercial real estate to benefit not only the owners, operators, and managers, but also the residents of the communities.

Wilkens is the director and deputy chief underwriter at Hudson Realty Capital, a New York City-based, minority-owned commercial real estate investment management firm that provides mid-market deal sponsors throughout the U.S. with financial solutions up and down the capital stack. Hired in 2021 to help scale Hudson Realty Capital’s launch into the FHA space, Wilkens has already made a big impact at the firm – forging long-term relationships and assisting in the completion of healthcare loans.

As a director and deputy chief FHA underwriter at Hudson Realty Capital, Wilkens oversees the entire underwriting process for healthcare transactions including bridge, agency, and HUD for hospital, long-term care, and senior housing loans. In addition, she works closely with the origination team to develop creative transaction structuring solutions. She also works with asset management, production, closing and others to closely monitor implementation and refine benchmarks for evaluating the performance of the loan portfolio.

One of the youngest people to be tri-certified in hospital, multifamily (MAP) and senior housing (LEAN), Wilkens brings her expertise and passion to making substantive change in the communities she works with in an extraordinary positive manner. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she spearheaded an initiative to provide relief to senior housing facilities that were facing substantial challenges and financial loss yet met stricter requirements than its multifamily counterparts. As the main point of contact and only lender that participated in the efforts, Wilkens had four out of five proposals approved by legislation on behalf of the entire industry, which was more than the multifamily industry was able to achieve.

These are just a few of the reasons we chose Ashley Wilkens as one of the Chicago & Midwest 2022 Women in Real Estate Award winners. Connect CRE’s Women in Real Estate Awards honor the achievements and inspirational stories of women who have reached respected positions of leadership and play key mentorship roles for others.