Don Peebles, The Peebles Corporation CEO and chairman, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the commercial real estate sector, potential impact on the financial sector, and more.

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By Matt Wasielewski

The owner of the Clevelander South Beach lost many of its hospitality workers during the height of the pandemic as patrons stopped frequenting the hotel and bar.

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By THE EDITORS 

There is an inner soothsayer in every decent real estate developer.

They have placed a significant bet on the future: What can rise on an empty plot of land? Who must they tap to make this vision a reality? How will this hypothetical building fit into the greater landscape? Who will buy or rent this property?

Credt: Commercial Observer

By Brian Pascus

Don Peebles may be the most equity-minded developer in the country, creating opportunities for those traditionally left at the commercial real estate industry’s margins.

For every Peebles project, he offers 35 percent of contracts to minority- and female-owned businesses. He has spent a lot of the pandemic, too, fundraising for Peebles’ Emerging Development Fund, which invests in minority- and female-owned real estate companies, with the goal of reaching $450 million.

“We level the playing field for women and minorities — and that needs to be closed,” Peebles, one of the nation’s most successful Black developers, said. “While there’s been much more engagement in terms of racial equality since [last summer’s] protests, it’s been more focused in making lower-income people more comfortable as opposed to providing them access to opportunities to build wealth.”

Peebles also spent the pandemic shepherding several projects across the country.

Even as COVID-19 forced the corporation to abandon plans for a hotel project in Philadelphia that had secured financing, Peebles forged ahead. He’s betting big on cities in general with mixed-use mega-projects totaling $4 billion in the works.

Last spring, he reopened The Bath Club, an iconic Miami beach club, which infamously prohibited Jews and Blacks from becoming members about a century ago. Today, after investing in renovations worth $8 million, there are more than 500 membership applications, far more than what the club can accommodate, Peebles said. This time though, everyone is welcomed — if they can pay: the initiation fee costs $20,000 and annual dues are $18,000.

In Downtown L.A., he’s laying the groundwork for Angels Landing, a $1.6 billion, 2 million-square-foot project that would deliver 63- and 42-story towers. The proposal cleared L.A.’s environmental impact review in March 2021, and Peebles hopes the shiny project will open in time for the 2028 Olympics that the City of Angels is set to host.

In Boston’s popular Bay Back neighborhood, his firm is developing another mixed-use project that will cost more than $500 million and encompass 432,000 square feet. It also involves a complex deal for air rights in the Massachusetts capital.—J.E.

Credit: Commercial Observer

The Peebles Corporation founder, chairman, and CEO Don Peebles discusses whether commercial real estate will crash on 'Making Money.'

See the full interview here.

Don Peebles, chairman and CEO of the Peebles Corporation, joins ‘The Exchange’ to discuss upset over President Biden joining the UAW picket line, Trump’s effort to win Michigan, and concerns about President Biden’s bid for reelection.

Credit: CNBC

By Sharelle Burt

A piece of Black history will be destroyed in Charlotte.

The iconic Walton Plaza building that graces the Queen City skyline is being torn down, the Charlotte Observer reports. The first Black-developed building of its kind between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta hosted some of Charlotte’s finest citizens.

It is the first real estate project led by attorney and congressman Mel Watt and was the professional home to Charlotte legends, including Julius Chambers and Harvey Gantt. Now, its demolition is drawing mixed reviews.

Developer BK Partners will build a new property called Brooklyn Village, consisting of 1,243 residential units, including at least 114 designated affordable units, office and retail space, hotel rooms and 2.5 acres of “open space,” which includes a park. Historians and landmark contributors such as Watt and Gantt say the building’s existence held extraordinary significance when there was a lack of opportunities for Black people.

Built in the early 1970s, Walton Plaza provided a space to support Black business enterprises.

“Its construction alone was an act of defiance in a racially polarized time,” Watt said.

Gantt, the city’s former mayor, leased space there for his architecture firm for a number of years.

“It was a first-class space and there was a good measure of accomplishment to see this succeeding,” Gantt said.

The building survived racial trauma and continued to thrive over the years. On Feb. 4, 1971, someone firebombed Chambers’ law office, just days before Chambers and Westside Associates won a bid to build another project named East Independence Plaza.

New Brooklyn Village construction started in early August 2023 after BK Partners LLC purchased the property from Mecklenburg County for $10.3 million, according to WSOC-TV. However, not all hope is lost to keep the Black legacy alive. The new owners include The Peebles Corporation, a New York-based African-American-owned company, and the Charlotte-based Conformity Corporation.

Peebles Corp EVP Donahue Peebles III said the group recognizes the history behind the land but realizes its time for something new, calling Brooklyn Village South “the first step in a long journey.”

“I think that our focus has always been on paying homage to the vibrancy that was historic Brooklyn…something that could approximate what was the city’s main district for Black people,” Peebles said.

Credit: Black Enterprise

Don Peebles, The Peebles Corporation CEO and chairman, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the health of the real estate nationwide, housing market, the state of commercial real estate, and more.

Credit: CNBC