January 5, 2023
Baltimore Business Journal

CFG Bank finalizes deal to move headquarters to Baltimore Peninsula

The long-anticipated deal to move CFG Bank’s headquarters to Baltimore Peninsula has been finalized.



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January 5, 2023
The Real Deal

MAG Partners clinches 99-year Chelsea ground lease; MaryAnne Gilmartin’s firm to deliver 188 units with Penn South co-op

MAG Partners has closed on a 99-year ground lease for a Chelsea development site.

MaryAnne Gilmartin’s three-year-old firm inked a deal on the northwest corner of Eighth Avenue and West 26th Street with Mutual Redevelopment Houses.

The parties declined to discuss the financial terms for the deal. Sources told The Real Deal the lease starts with an annual rent of around $2 million and has yearly rent increases that are expected to bring in over $750 million during the life of the deal.

The Memorandum of Lease reviewed by TRD shows a consideration of just under $64 million. For transfer tax purposes, this number represents the estimated fair market value of the site if it were sold but does not reflect the expected rent over its term. The city received just under $415,000 in taxes.

Mutual, also known as Penn South, is a 10-building Mitchell-Lama housing cooperative in Chelsea that sprawls from West 23rd to West 29th streets, between Eighth and Ninth avenues.

MAG Partner’s new project at 335 Eighth Avenue will rise seven stories and host 188 units in the mixed-income apartment building, along with ground-floor commercial space.

The 200,000 square-foot building was designed by COOKFOX Architects.

To qualify for the previous Affordable NY Program and assure 30 percent of the units would be affordable to low-and-middle class households, the necessary footing was installed in early 2022 with the blessing of the co-op and prior to the expiration of the program.

The retail building previously included a Gristedes, the Midtown Tennis Club, the Asylum Comedy Club and McDonald’s, all of which had leases timed to expire at the end of 2022.

Demolition will begin in the first quarter of 2023 with construction during the third quarter.

This is the second deal for MAG Partners and its real estate private equity venture partner, Safanad, after developing almost 700 housing units in Manhattan, including the nearby 241 West 28th Street.

Penn South’s retail building had brought in nearly $2 million in lease revenue before taxes and repairs, enabling a reduction in maintenance fees for its resident shareholders. But when engineers said the structure needed almost $50 million in repairs to become marketable to modern tenants, it would have caused each of the 2,820 units to pay additional assessments averaging $500 per month for three years.

Penn South hired Paul Travis of Washington Square Partners to solicit proposals for the site. After culling the responses, cooperators voted in 2021 among three choices that included redeveloping the site; a taller, all-commercial project by another developer; and Mag Partners’ proposal, which offered nearly twice as much over the lease term including yearly bumps in rent.

Susi Yu and Jeff Rosen led the deal for the MAG Partners team while Joshua Stein of Joshua Stein PLLC represented Mag Partners in the legal work for the transaction.

Dena Cohen, a partner with Herrick Feinstein, represented Penn South in the lease negotiations.



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January 5, 2023

MAG Partners Closes Transaction to Develop Residential Building in Chelsea

MAG Partners, the woman-owned development firm, announced today that they closed on the leasehold acquisition for 335 Eighth Avenue with Penn South, an affordable housing cooperative located in the Chelsea community of Manhattan. 335 Eighth Avenue will be a mixed-income apartment building with ground floor commercial space, including a grocery store.  

The deal represents a second closing for the partnership between MAG Partners and Safanad, a real estate private equity firm. In 2020 the two firms announced their JV to pursue New York metropolitan area real estate together. They now have nearly 700 units of housing in development in Manhattan. 

The new 188-unit building will be developed under the Affordable NY Program with thirty percent of its units reserved for low-and-middle income New Yorkers.  The team secured the necessary footing for program inclusion in early 2022 and demolition will begin in the 1st quarter, 2023 followed by construction in the 3rd quarter, 2023.    The contextual 200,000 square foot, 7-story building is designed by renowned local architects COOKFOX.  

“We are proud to reach this important project milestone with Penn South and look forward to starting a new mixed-income residential building that will contribute to the coop’s beautiful campus and provide critical income to its mission,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder and CEO of MAG Partners. “We are grateful for our continued development relationship with Safanad who is building a second rental community in partnership with us.”

“Our close on the 8th Ave transaction demonstrates our continued faith in the strength of the New York City multifamily rental market; the project builds on our deep and successful partnership with MAG Partners, as already exhibited by our joint ground-up development project on 28th Street,” said Andrew Trickett, Partner and Head of Investments at Safanad.

Penn South, also known as Mutual Redevelopment Houses, initiated a process to identify and select a development partner to transform a corner parcel with a commercial building that required significant repairs.  The ground lease payments will support Penn South’s core objective to maintain long-term affordability and quality of life for its nearly 5,000 residents.  Washington Square Partners represented Mutual in the transaction.

“The revenue generated from this new partnership with MAG Partners will provide critical funds that permits our co-op to pay for capital improvements around our aging campus, keep monthly maintenance charges affordable, and support vital services and care that our residents depend on,” said Board President Ambur Nicosia.

“The coop was faced with a decision to make, after a thorough assessment from our professional engineers and real estate consultants: either we seek additional very costly loans in order to address major capital repairs to this two-story aging commercial building or enter into a long-term ground lease with a responsible developer who will demolish the existing building and build an affordable quality housing building that will blend into the fabric of the community and guarantee our limited equity coop cash flow for many years to come,” said General Manager Ryan Dziedziech.

Susi Yu and Jeff Rosen led the deal for the MAG Partners team. The parties were represented by Joshua Stein and Alexa Klein of Joshua Stein PLLC and Dena Cohen and Francesca Venezia of Herrick, Feinstein LLP.

##

About MAG Partners: MAG Partners is a woman-owned, urban real estate company with decades of experience developing impactful, iconic, large-scale projects throughout New York City.  Led by MaryAnne Gilmartin, together the MAG Partners team has successfully designed, built and operated over seven million square feet of office, residential and mixed-use projects, including over 2,000 units of housing, with a total value of over $4.5 billion. Their current multi-million square foot development portfolio includes three multifamily rental buildings and a ground-up commercial development in Manhattan and a master plan redevelopment in Baltimore.

About Safanad: Safanad is a global principal-led investment house established in 2009 with offices in New York and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The firm has executed over 40 transactions worth over US$10 billion since inception and built market-leading platforms in the US and Europe in education, healthcare, digital infrastructure, and real estate. Today, it is the owner of the largest UK care home operator with over 15,000 residents, a leading global education provider serving ~50,000 students worldwide, and a major operator of data centers across the US. Deploying its own capital, alongside strategic partners and investors, Safanad executes across greenfield / development, turnaround, and roll-up strategies. Its partners and co-investors include leading publicly listed companies, sovereign wealth funds, and institutions from the US, Europe, and Middle East. Safanad is a registered investment advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

About Penn South: Penn South (legal name Mutual Redevelopment Houses, Inc.), is an affordable housing cooperative that is self-managed and overseen by its 15-member Board of Directors and subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development.  Penn South contains 2,820 apartments with close to 5,000 residents in 15 buildings on a site bounded by Ninth Avenue, West 23rd Street, Eighth Avenue and West 29th Street in Manhattan.  

November 15, 2022
Bisnow

Port Covington Team Rebrands Project ‘Baltimore Peninsula,’ Inks New Partnership

An aerial rendering of the development that the team has rebranded as Baltimore Peninsula.

The development team leading the massive redevelopment of the city’s Port Covington peninsula has rechristened the project Baltimore Peninsula.

The goal of the rebranding, the developers said, is to provide a name reflecting the development’s full impact on the peninsula south of Interstate 95 extending into the Middle Branch. Two leaders of the development team, MAG Partners CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin and MacFarlane Partners CEO Victor MacFarlane, spoke with Bisnow about the project’s status on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s announcement. 

“We’ve created a name that reveals character and personality, all authentic, and above all, it’s a name around which we will deliver a value proposition, which is a call to action,” Gilmartin said. “It’s an opportunity for Baltimore to be trailblazing and be a leader in creating a new kind of development project.”

Along with the rebranding, the development team has unveiled alterations to the master plan and a new partnership with a software company. 

The project has been controversial with some residents since backers first sought more than $500M in public tax increment financing to improve infrastructure on the site in 2016. The team eventually garnered public support for the financing by entering into a community benefits agreement with surrounding neighborhoods that exceeded $100M. 

In May, Sagamore Ventures and Goldman Sachs announced that MAG Partners and MacFarlane Partners would take over from Weller Development Co. as the project’s lead developers.

In September, Gilmartin said during Bisnow’s Baltimore State of the Market event that she planned to rebrand the site and update its master plan.

Bisnow/Adam Bednar
MAG Partners CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin speaks at Bisnow’s Baltimore State of Market event at Port Covington Sept. 22, 2022.

Since taking over the project, she said the primary focus for the development team has been “leasing, leasing, leasing,” as buildings in the second phase of construction, dubbed 1B, are expected to start delivering in a matter of weeks and months. 

The five buildings in Phase 1B of development include 1.1M SF of office, retail and residential space. Developers expect construction will finish on those assets between the end of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. 

Those properties include Rye Market, which comprises 228K SF of office and 45K SF of market space. H. Chambers Co., a 123-year-old interior design business, has already inked a 10-year lease for nearly 8K SF in Rye Market.   

Peninsula Baltimore’s most significant office building, 2455 House St., has two potential tenants that would fully occupy its 212K SF of office space, Gilmartin said. 

She said the development team hopes to announce an unnamed tenant at 2455 House St. by the end of the year. CFG Bank’s executive has already publicly expressed interest in relocating its headquarters to the property.

“[CFG CEO] Jack Dwyer has openly spoke about his hope to be part of our project, and we feel the same way. We love the company, we love the CEO and founder, we love their commitment to workforce development,” Gilmartin said. 

In addition to the rebranding, the developers revealed alterations to the site’s master plan that guides building on the site. 

The most significant change is the inclusion of a boulevard running northwest to southeast across the peninsula. Designers hope the boulevard will better connect the peninsula, which is cut off from the rest of the city by I-95. 

The shifts in the plan, she said, will also better connect the development with the new Under Armour headquarters, which the athletic apparel firm is building on the 250-acre Port Covington peninsula. 

The Under Armour campus is building its new headquarters independent of the Baltimore Peninsula development. However, Kevin Plank, the athletic brand’s founder, is a major financial backer of the redevelopment via his investment firm Sagamore Ventures.  

Developers have already held conversations about the changes to the site plans with the city, Gilmartin said. Those changes, she said, will not require additional approval from city officials who started reviewing site plans for the project more than five years ago.     

The Baltimore Peninsula team also said it has partnered with software company Sweeten Enterprises to deliver what the developers bill as an “unparalleled level of transparency, innovation, and inclusiveness to local minority and women-owned business participation in Baltimore development projects.” 

Through the partnership, Sweeten will provide any interested developer with its platform so they can measure their progress in hiring minority- and women-owned businesses.

So far, the Baltimore Peninsula team said it has committed over $132M in contracts to city-certified minority- and women-owned enterprises. So far the developers have exceeded goals set for such businesses participation in building the development. 

The firm reported a 35% participation for minority-owned firms and 13% for women-owned enterprises.

Contact Adam Bednar at [email protected]



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November 15, 2022
The Baltimore Banner

Port Covington has a new name: Baltimore Peninsula

The developers of Port Covington have announced a new name for the 235-acre project: Baltimore Peninsula. (Paul Newson/The Baltimore Banner)

Starting Tuesday, Port Covington, the 235-acre waterfront development in South Baltimore, will go by a new name: Baltimore Peninsula.

The change, made public this week, is an attempt by new developers at the New York-based MAG Partners and the San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners to turn a page on a contentious project that has faced delays, turnover and public criticism, particularly for its heavy reliance on subsidies at the expense of Baltimore’s other needs. Supporters of the effort argue that the finished product will add jobs, stimulate economic growth, and attract visitors and more residents to Baltimore.

MAG Partners CEO and founder MaryAnne Gilmartin and her team also have revised the project’s master plan and expect the final layout of the project to look different from what developers pitched in 2016. For example, they want to stretch the original Founders Park into a linear, diagonal “green artery” that connects the center of the new neighborhood and waterfront with the rest of the city. They also want to better connect to the rest of South Baltimore and Interstate 95 and have proposed adding a “connection” above the CSX tracks at Hanover and McComas Streets.

Gilmartin, in a Monday interview, said the change in name reflects a shift from “a place on a map” to a living, breathing community. She described Baltimore Peninsula’s vision as inclusive, mission-oriented and dynamic.

“All our actions need to reflect that vision,” she said.

Victor MacFarlane, chairman and CEO of MacFarlane Partners, added: “We’re here because we believe in Baltimore’s growth.”

Gilmartin and MacFarlane highlighted their commitment to minority and women business participation in the development as well as affordable housing; the first two residential buildings — to be called Rye House and 250 Mission, with more than 400 units between them — are expected to open this March and will have 20% of the units below market rate, they said. On Monday, they also announced a partnership with Sweeten, a software company that publicly tracks their minority- and women-owned business participation goals.

Attached to one of the largest public subsidies in the country, the $5.5 billion, multi-phase waterfront development in South Baltimore spans more than 200 acres and will feature three direct access points to I-95. Under Armour founder and Executive Chairman Kevin Plank and those affiliated with his Sagamore Ventures development firm spent more than $100 million since they began buying up Port Covington land about a decade ago.

A current goal is to build the once-dominant apparel company a new corporate headquarters surrounded by a “mini-city” akin to the existing Harbor East and Harbor Point sites.

The Baltimore City Council approved the city’s largest tax increment financing deal — $660 million — in 2016 to help fund the project. The project has also qualified for federal Enterprise Zone tax breaks.

Since then, Under Armour’s corporate image has soured amid company scandals, high-profile departures and declining sales, forcing the company to tone down its plans for the new offices. Meanwhile, several iterations of plans for what Port Covington could become — including a hub for technology companies called Cyber Town USA — have not come to pass.

Gilmartin, though, told The Baltimore Banner in an interview earlier this month that the project will be successful, so long as it rebrands and commits to sharing a more positive story.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the City will continue to benefit from the momentum and energy that has resulted from the creation of this new waterfront neighborhood,” Plank said in a Tuesday statement. “The impact is undeniable.”

[email protected]



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November 15, 2022
Baltimore Business Journal

Port Covington gets new name, rebranding amid leasing push

Farewell Port Covington. Meet “Baltimore Peninsula”.



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November 15, 2022
The Baltimore Sun

Port Covington renamed Baltimore Peninsula, ushering in new brand and new chapter

Port Covington, the once industrial South Baltimore waterfront that is being redeveloped, is getting a new name to go with its future as a place to live, work, shop and gather.

Starting Tuesday, the massive project south of Interstate 95 will be called Baltimore Peninsula.

The name change, announced Tuesday morning by developers, is the most visible part of a rebranding by a newly installed development team and aims to focus on the area’s future instead of its past.

“We find ourselves at a moment in time, a moment in time where we can think big and carry on the momentum and be all in,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, founder and CEO of New York-based MAG Partners, which along with San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners, took over in May as lead developer and investors with owners Sagamore Ventures and Goldman Sachs.

“It’s not a project. It’s a place,” Gilmartin said. “It’s a neighborhood. It’s a home. It’s a headquarters. So it’s time to call the project what we want it to be forever.”

This is a newly released rendering for Port Covington, which is being rebranded as Baltimore Peninsula. Story embargoed until 6:30AM on 11/15/2022
This is a newly released rendering for Port Covington, which is being rebranded as Baltimore Peninsula.  (DBOX)

Developers wanted to re-direct thinking about the project with a “powerful” brand that would be clear, authentic, easily recognizable and that “conveys the character and personality of what it represents,” Gilmartin said.

She added that the site is more of a peninsula than a port and that developers believe in Baltimore as a brand, especially in marketing outside the city.

“That’s what we’re pitching,” she said. “We think Baltimore is amazing.

Baltimore Peninsula was chosen from about 50 names, including the current name, over about six months, with the help of consultants and project owners including Under Armour founder Kevin Plank.

Developers, said they hope all of the Port Covington neighborhood, of which they own about 80% of the real estate, will embrace the new name. Other developers are operating separately in Port Covington, some building homes while Under Armour is building a global headquarters on 50 acres owned by the company.

The rebranding comes at a time when the project’s first five buildings are nearing completion, including two office buildings and three residential buildings, with the the first office tenants and apartment residents to start moving in early next year. The 1.1 million square feet of offices, apartments, a hotel, retail and parks is the $500 million first phase of a project eventually planned to hold 14 million square feet on 235 acres.

“Baltimore is an incredibly special place to me — it is home — and it is rewarding to see the culmination of all the great work that has been done to-date,” said Plank, principal and CEO of Sagamore Ventures, in Tuesday’s announcement.

An official grand opening for Baltimore Peninsula is being planned for next September.

Gilmartin said developers are working on finalizing leases with two tenants for the office building on the newly named House Street by the first quarter of next year, which would fully occupy the building. One of those tenants is expected to be CFG Bank. A second office building will house Rye Street Market, and H. Chambers Co., an architecture and interior design firm, will move into 9,000 square feet in that building in March.

“The philosophy for the commercial space is not to cannibalize the Inner Harbor and to move tenants around Baltimore but to go wider on a national strategy,” Gilmartin said.

The five buildings under construction in Port Covington, which is being renamed Baltimore Peninsula, are shown in this file photo. They are the first phase of a larger redevelopment of the area.
The five buildings under construction in Port Covington, which is being renamed Baltimore Peninsula, are shown in this file photo. They are the first phase of a larger redevelopment of the area. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)

The first phase also includes 250 Mission, a 162-unit apartment building, and Rye House, a 254-unit apartment building, a 121-unit residential building with an extended-stay hotel, a parking garage and a park. Leasing for the apartments will start in the first quarter and the first residents are expected to move in by March.

Sagamore’s Port Covington project has sprouted alongside its earlier developments, Rye Street Tavern and Sagamore Spirit Distillery. The Baltimore Sun leases its office in the Port Covington development.

Developers hope to announce the start of another office building next year, with a company headquarters type of tenant in place, and another apartment building, Gilmartin said.

“Obviously with the headwinds in the economy, it remains to be seen if we can do that,” she said, though “the residential market is quite robust in Baltimore.”



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October 29, 2022
New York YIMBY

241 West 28th Street’s Brick Façade Nears Completion In Chelsea, Manhattan

Façade work nears completion on 241 West 28th Street, a pair of 22-story residential buildings in Chelsea, Manhattan. Designed by COOKFOX and developed by MAG Partners, Atalaya, Safanad, and Qualitas, the 400,000-square-foot complex is aiming for LEED Silver certification and will yield 480 units with 30 percent reserved for low- and middle-income households, as well as 8,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Urban Atelier Group is the general contractor for the property, which is located between Seventh and Eighth Avenues with frontage on both West 28th and 29th Streets.

At the time of our last update in May, the red brick façade had reached up to the height of the setbacks on the 28th and 29th Street elevations. Since then, crews from King Contracting Group laid the remainder of the 100,000 square feet of brick, supplied by Belden Tristate Building Materials, at a pace of one floor every two and a half days. The eastern side of the building has been enclosed in its EIFS envelope, and metal railings have begun to be installed at the base of some of the windows, with clips in place at their tops to hold a decorative paneling.

241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young

Scaffolding rigs hang from both the northern and southern sides of 241 West 28th Street as workers continue to finish up the exterior. The construction elevator remains attached to the West 28th Street elevation.

241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The towers on the western end of the building are awaiting their EIFS enclosure. Densglass sheathing insulation boards and the edges of each floor plate remain exposed for now.

241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young
241 West 28th Street. Photo by Michael Young

Residential amenities include multiple indoor lounges, a fitness center, a children’s playroom, and an outdoor lounge with a swimming pool and adjoining terrace.

YIMBY last reported that 241 West 28th Street is slated for completion in July 2023.



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September 22, 2022
Bisnow

Port Covington Developer Names Office Tenant, Says Rebrand Ahead

The massive Port Covington development in Baltimore has inked its first lease, and developer MAG Partners plans to unveil a rebrand and updated master plan later this year, CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin said Thursday morning.

The H. Chambers Co., a 123-year-old interior design business currently headquartered in the Montgomery Park development in southwest Baltimore, signed a 9K SF lease at the Port Covington building dubbed E-7, Gilmartin said. 

“[It’s] an amazing company that fell in love with the ingenuity, the possibilities, and the actual quality of the buildings we’re in. So, I just want you to know that the leasing has begun, and they are our first signed lease,” Gilmartin said. 

Gilmartin announced the deal during Bisnow’s Baltimore State of the Market event on Thursday at 2455 Banner St. in Port Covington. Speaking to reporters after her remarks, Gilmartin said she expects to announce more significant leases by the fourth quarter of this year.  

Last month, news outlets published articles questioning the pace of leasing at the development and probed whether the lack of deals was a sign the project was struggling. 

The Baltimore Banner, citing anonymous sources, reported Wednesday that CFG Bank told its employees the financial institution planned to relocate its offices from Baltimore County to Port Covington. 

Gilmartin said she could not confirm or deny CFG Bank as a future tenant. No deal is done until the ink is dry on a lease, she said.   

Gilmartin also said her firm, which took over as the project’s master developer in May, plans to unveil a new master plan and a rebranding for the development later this year. 

“We’re doing a complete rebrand. A year from now we won’t be calling it Port Covington. We’re going to unveil a new name for the project at the end of this year,” she said. “We just need traction, right? Because the buildings are there.”   

There are five buildings under construction on the site as part of the $550M first phase of construction. Initial plans from Weller Development, the original master developer, called for 14M SF of retail, office and residential space off Interstate 95 on 235 acres covering the city’s southern peninsula. 

Under Armour, whose founder, Kevin Plank, initially financed the Port Covington redevelopment, is constructing the athletic brand’s new global headquarters next to Port Covington.  

Developer Mark Sapperstein also closed this week on the Locke Insulators building on the peninsula, Gilmartin said. Sapperstein’s firm, 28 Walker Development, has developed some of Baltimore’s most successful retail projects, such as The Shops at Canton Crossing and McHenry Row

However, another major property on the peninsula is heading toward vacancy. The Baltimore Sun isn’t renewing its lease at 300 East Cromwell St. and is in the process of moving operations out of the building, according to Gilmartin. 

The roughly 500K SF industrial building served for decades as the home of the newspaper’s printing operations before The Sun outsourced printing of the paper earlier this year. Since 2018, the property has also served as the newspaper’s main office after its former owner sold The Sun’s Calvert Street offices downtown.  



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September 22, 2022
Baltimore Business Journal

Design firm Chambers Co. signs lease to move offices to Port Covington

Baltimore interior design and architectural firm Chambers Co. on Thursday signed the first office lease at Port Covington and the new owner of the large-scale development says other tenants are on the way.



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