Mezzanine lending, which fills the gap between debt and equity, could make a comeback this year, after lean years through the financial crisis, National Real Estate Investor said.

Most significantly, 2012 will be marked by an uptick in maturities of existing debt, creating a big demand for refinancing.

With senior lenders more conservative than they were before, mezzanine lenders will have an ability to fill the capital slack for qualified borrowers.

Moreover, the continued increases in investment sales and, in some cases, development are also places where mezzanine debt can play a role

“Mezz lenders feel there will be good opportunities in 2012,” said Mitchell Kiffe, co-head of national production for the debt and equity finance group within CBRE Capital Markets. “There’s an avalanche of maturities coming due, and that’s why a lot of people in the space think the market is going to come to them.”

Mezzanine lenders that managed to deploy capital during 2011 focused primarily on development projects. Because the pool of construction lenders continues to be shallow and lenders are imposing low loan-to-cost ratios on qualified borrowers, developers are looking for mezzanine capital.

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