How it works

Capital Stack 101

Most commercial deals aren't funded by a single loan — they're a stack of layers, each with its own cost, risk, and repayment priority. Our recommender maps your deal to the layers most likely to fund it.

Repayment priority: senior first (bottom) → equity last (top)

  1. 4. Equity

    Sponsor cash plus any JV / LP / Opportunity Zone equity. Last to be repaid and first to absorb loss, so it's priced to a target return — the most expensive capital in the stack.

  2. 3. Incentives

    Tax credits, grants, and PACE. Often monetized as equity or low-cost gap funding (historic / New Markets credits, MassHousing subsidy, C-PACE) — they shrink the equity you actually have to raise.

  3. 2. Mezzanine / SBA

    Subordinate financing behind the senior loan — SBA 7(a), mezzanine debt, CDFI / quasi-public gap loans. Higher cost than senior debt, but it reduces the equity check.

  4. 1. Senior debt

    First position, lowest cost, repaid first — bank / agency permanent loans and the SBA 504 first mortgage. Typically the largest layer, sized to the property's value and cash flow.

How Paolucci Capital Group helps

Tell us about your deal and we map it to 2–3 candidate capital stacks — sized layer by layer, priced against live benchmark rates, with the Massachusetts programs and incentives that fit. Then a PCG advisor refines it with real lender terms.