Love Funding is making a splash in the bridge-to-HUD lending arena, a space where it has not seen much action before. Helped in large part by the late-2014 acquisition of its parent company (Heartland Bank) by Midland States Bank, Love gained access to a larger and more accessible capital platform. So the program was started this spring, with eight healthcare transactions (representing $78 million) already in the pipeline. The loans are split 50-50 between skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities and are mostly for acquisitions (4), with a couple each for cash outs and new construction. The transactions are not limited to a specific region either, with four in Massachusetts, and one each in Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee and Illinois. Term lengths will range from six months to three years, with Love working simultaneously to arrange permanent HUD financings for the shorter term bridge loans. Rates will stay in the 4%-5% range, with a 15- to 25-year amortization. Some of the loans will be interest-only as well. Love is expecting to close its first transactions under this new program by the end of the month, and the rest of its first eight by the end of the year, with plenty more to come.