By The Grio Staff

As the head of the largest Black-owned real estate development company in the U.S., Don Peebles takes his role seriously.

The chairman and chief executive of the Peebles Corporation, which has a portfolio worth $8 billion, has set out to challenge the barriers that Black people continue to face in the development space.

From his perch, Peebles can see the unfairness that continues to face Blacks who want to make it in the development space. For example, of the 116,242 licensed architects in the US, just 2% (roughly 2,300) are Black.

The Urban Land Institute, an organization of real estate and land use experts, has noted just 5% of its members are Black.

That reality helps give Peebles a purpose.

Credit: The Grio

By City News Service

The developers of the Angels Landing high-rise towers announced on Monday, March 28, that the city of Los Angeles approved the project’s entitlement, allowing them to move forward on the $1.6 billion downtown project.

The complex, set to be developed on the vacant lot that was formerly Angel Knoll Park, will consist of two high-rise towers that will each hold a luxury hotel.

Originally planned as one 88-story skyscraper and one 24-story high-rise, the buildings, designed by Handel Architects, are set to be 63 stories and 42 stories tall.

The project will be the third-tallest in Los Angeles and the tallest in the U.S. developed by Black developers.

“With Angels Landing will come desired levels of diversity and inclusion to L.A.’s hospitality industry and the expansive services sector that supports the local hotel industry,” said one of the developers, Victor B. MacFarlane, president and CEO of MacFarlane Partners. “It’s about time the economic benefits generated by massive projects like this are provided to people who are reflective of the project.”

Aside from two luxury hotels, the towers would have apartment units and a plaza that the developer describes as “a modern pedestrian-centered and transit-adjacent urban park in the heart of downtown L.A.”

The site is near Pershing Square Station and the area is serviced by the Metro B (Red) and D (Purple) lines.

“We are focused on bringing increased diversity and equity to L.A. through Affirmative Development, and the transformative impact of empowerment and economic inclusion from Angels Landing will be felt by an array of businesses including African American, Latino- and Asian-owned,” said R. Donahue “Don” Peebles, chairman and CEO of The Peebles Corporation.

“We have committed to a goal of 30% minority and women-owned business contracting across the board for our project in excess of over $480 million, and we*re raising the bar for economic inclusion for development projects in L.A.”

The developers cited an analysis by BJH Advisors, LLC that said the project’s design and construction would create 8,300 jobs, and another estimate that found it would create about 800 permanent jobs in downtown Los Angeles.

The analysis found that the project would boost L.A.’s local economy by $1.6 billion and contribute about $731 million to local workers’ earnings during the project’s construction, and that the project would generate about $12 million in recurring tax revenues and $2.4 million in local property tax revenues annually.

Credit: Los Angeles Daily News 

By The Editors of The Commercial Observer

Don Peebles has a vision: The developer with projects in New York, Los Angeles and Miami is busy at work with plans to build the biggest, and most inclusive, mixed-use project in history. Full stop.

This means a 2 million-square-foot mega-project called Affirmation Tower across from the Javits Center that will have a Black builder (Cheryl McKissack Daniel, president and CEO of McKissack & McKissack), a Black architect (David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates) and tenants like the Museum of Civil Rights, which is headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, as well as the NAACP.

Click here to read the full article. 

Credit: Commercial Observer

By Kathryn Brenzel

The city’s first civil rights museum is moving from one uncertain project to another.

The Museum of Civil Rights has agreed to take at least 50,000 square feet at “Affirmation Tower,” a 2 million-square-foot skyscraper envisioned by developer Don Peebles for 418 11th Avenue.

The museum, founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Judge Jonathan Lippman, was originally supposed to occupy 48,000 square feet at One45, a building planned for West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem. That mostly residential project has faced pushback from Harlem Council member Kristin Richardson Jordan, Community Board 10 and Borough President Mark Levine.

Jordan’s support is key for the project, which needs City Council approval. Its affiliation with Sharpton and the museum gave One45’s developers, who include Bruce Teitelbaum, an edge in the city’s often politicized approval process. Now that advantage goes to Peebles.

But “Affirmation Tower” is also up in the air. State agency Empire State Development revoked a request for proposals for the site where developer Don Peebles is vying to build it. The agency has neither reissued the RFP nor announced a timeline for doing so.

Upon revoking the RFP, state officials hinted that they were considering affordable housing for the site, an idea Peebles called “absurd.” One45, if its Harlem site were rezoned, would include affordable apartments.

Peebles called the museum’s potential move a “breakthrough” for the Far West Side project and said he is hopeful that it will “encourage people to move a little faster,” referring to Hochul administration officials planning the future of the 11th Avenue parcel, called site K.

Peebles is among the nation’s best known Black developers and the project would be funded mostly by Black-owned companies, designed by Black architect Sir David Adjaye, built by minority- and women-owned businesses and include NAACP offices — factors that figure to help it beat out other proposals for the site.

Affirmation Tower’s would-be developers have positioned it as the city’s first Black-built skyscraper.

“This is a project that is bigger than one developer, bigger than one neighborhood,” Peebles said. “If we don’t take this opportunity to do it, when will it get done?”

He said that Sharpton had previously indicated that if One45 is not approved, he would consider moving the museum to Affirmation Tower. Given the community opposition to the Harlem project, Sharpton agreed to the change last week, Peebles said.

One45’s Teitelbaum, who was once a senior aide in the Giuliani administration, did not respond to requests seeking comment. Commercial Observer first reported the deal between Peebles and Sharpton.

Peebles maintains that the two hotels he plans for the site, which is near the Javits Convention Center, would serve the area better than affordable housing. But the housing would be more beneficial politically to Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is seeking election this year to a four-year term.

Community Board 4, an advisory body of local volunteers, has requested affordable housing for site K. Hochul has already adjusted plans for development around Penn Station to require more affordable housing.

Credit: The Real Deal

By The Editors of The Commercial Observer

Developer Don Peebles has a dream to pull off a 2 million-square-foot, mixed-use giant across from the Javits Center that he says will be the most inclusive skyscraper in U.S. history

On the West Side of Manhattan, just across from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, sits a 1.2-acre site. A piece of land of that size is like gold dust in Manhattan — and Don Peebles has big plans for it.

And he has named it Affirmation Tower. A development team comprised of Peebles’ Peebles Corporation; Cheryl McKissack Daniel, president and CEO of McKissack & McKissack; Craig Livingston, managing partner of Exact Capital; and Steven Witkoff, chairman and CEO of Witkoff, have proposed a 2 million-square-foot mixed-use development for the vacant site.

Click here to read the full article.

Credit: Commercial Observer

By Jon Banister, Bisnow Deputy East Coast Editor

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has selected a pair of Black-owned firms to build a 21-story development on state-owned land in downtown Boston, its first selection using a new equity-focused scoring model.

The MassDOT board on Wednesday approved the selection of the team led by Peebles Corp. and Genesis Cos., one of six teams that bid on the 1.4-acre site, the Boston Globe reported.

The site, known as Parcel 25, sits at the intersection Kneeland and Lincoln streets, less than a half-mile from South Station. The vacant lot sitting above I-93 was left over from the Big Dig and was unsuccessfully put out to developers in 2016 before this latest process, according to the Globe.

"It is filling in this gap and connecting the neighborhood better, making it more accessible and creating some more life there," Peebles Corp. founder and CEO Don Peebles told Bisnow in an interview Thursday.

The Peebles-Genesis team plans to build 585K SF across 21 stories, including 309K SF of lab and research space, 218 apartments on the upper floors and ground-floor retail. About 40% of the apartments are planned to be income-restricted.

The team is ground-leasing the site from the state and paying $61.5M upfront and then an annual rent starting at $1M, which escalates by 2.5% every year for 99 years, a price Peebles said will eventually total more than $500M. He said the project's life sciences component will cover the price and subsidize the affordable units, given the high demand for lab space in Boston.

"We tried to create a financially viable project that also addresses the need for affordable housing, and so we were able to do that," Peebles said. "In order for us to make a dent in housing affordability, the private sector and developers are going to have to take more initiative and use more creativity."

The development still needs to go through entitlements and permitting. Peebles said the team aims to break ground in March 2024 and deliver the project in Q3 2026.

MassDOT selected the developers from a group of six competing teams that also included a joint venture of Alexandria Real Estate Equities and National Development, a joint venture of Brookfield Properties and Menkiti Group, BioMed Realty, Lupoli Cos. and Trinity Financial Inc.

The agency for the first time used a strategy called the Massport Model that factors the diversity of the bidders as 25% of the scoring, along with other factors, including the purchase price, the mix of uses and the design. In addition to the two New York-based developers being Black-owned firms, Peebles said his team also includes architecture and construction firms owned by people of color.

"The commonwealth of Massachussets under Gov. [Charlie] Baker is certainly committed to economic inclusion," Peebles said. "There's a great opportunity going forward in the commonwealth to do significant business for minority firms. That’s one of the things we focused on, is having a very diverse and talented team, and we’re real proud of it."

Credit: Bisnow

By Tanya A. Christian

There are roughly 300 skyscrapers sprawled across the iconic New York City skyline. And to date, not one has been built by a majority Black team.  That’s despite New York ranking among the most diverse cities in the country, and having the largest number of people reporting as Black — roughly 3.3 million — according to the latest U.S. Census.
“Think about that,” real estate entrepreneur Don Peebles offers. “All the skyscrapers in the skyline of New York City —all of them — not one has been built by a Black developer, not one has been constructed by a Black contractor, or a construction company, and only one had any element of design by a Black architect, and that's fairly recent.”

Peebles is part of a collaborative of savvy developers working to disrupt the city’s status quo by erecting the first skyscraper built by a majority Black team. And they plan to call it Affirmation Tower. The project, according to Peebles and partner in the initiative, Craig Livingston, would serve as a towering example of Black excellency.

“This is an opportunity to really create a paradigm shift and to start to build a Black economy that Black companies actually participate in and flourish,” Livingston tells EBONY.  The managing partner at Exact Capital adds that the project requires intentionality. “On our side, as owners of a project, we can decide to spend a billion dollars with Black and Brown companies and for the economics to be shared and to be dissipated throughout specific communities,” Livingston explains. “But the intentionality also has to be there on the government side.”

Since 2005 New York state has strived to level the playing field in terms of development by instituting the M/BWE (Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise) program. Through this, minority and women entrepreneurs have greater access to government contracts to grow their businesses. According to ny.gov, more than 9,200 businesses have taken advantage of the certification program resulting in more than $21 billion in state contracts. And still, none of these projects have utilized the program to the extent that Affirmation Tower hopes to.

The project involving Peebles and Livingston has on board the oldest Black construction and design company in the country, helmed by Cheryl McKissack, and as its architect, Sir David Adjaye. Collectively, Peebles says the 80 percent Black-owned team is working to meet a very specific moment in this country’s history — rebounding from a global pandemic and the financial decimation that has taken place as a result of it.

“Looking at the wealth disparity that has been created, thinking ahead to how New York comes back, and then addressing the protesting and the demand for racial, economic and criminal justice in our country, we felt it important to build something that could meet those moments,” says Peebles.

It’s why Affirmation Tower is being designed as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, standing at 1,663 feet tall and spanning roughly 1.2 acres. Housed inside would be the headquarters for the NAACP, at least two hotels, office space and an entertainment complex. Peebles likens the project and its timing to the erection of the Empire State Building following the Great Depression and the Freedom Tower after 911. The Peebles Corp CEO sees it as a demonstration that New York and America is coming back.

Despite its optimistic goal, the project is experiencing a major hurdle. The idea for Affirmation Tower was conceived after New York’s former governor Andrew Cuomo put out a call for proposals for the Hudson Yards development site. But since his ousting, New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, has rescinded the RFP, stating that she would instead like to use the site for affordable housing.

“I feel that this idea of making our people comfortable with the disproportionate burden of poverty, the poor education that our young people are victimized by, and the criminal justice system that criminalizes our young people, for the most simplistic mistakes is just unacceptable,” Peebles says of the decision. “What we need to do is to change this burden of poverty and lift this burden of poverty off of our people, so that we don't need as many social services and government support — that we can do it for ourselves. And that means that we have to grow black businesses.”

Multiple attempts to reach the governor for comment were unsuccessful. But while the team behind Affirmation Tower finds the decision disappointing, they view it as a temporary setback.

“We view this award as inevitable and we're looking at this pause as an opportunity for greater alignment with the Governor's priorities,” Livingston asserts. “Given the tremendous benefits that Affirmation Tower presents to the state in terms of tax revenue, and to the community — when you look at what's happening in the world of construction and the overall New York economy — we need to have a catalyst for economic growth and Affirmation Tower is certainly poised to do that.” Livingston sees this “temporary pause” as an opportunity to have greater alignment with the governor's vision.”

Peebles believes that the plans they once had will reach fruition and with it will come an opportunity for real economic justice. “As Dr. King once said, justice too long delayed is justice denied,” Peebles quotes. “And the same goes for economic justice.”

While more Black entrepreneurs have been able to participate in America’s growing economy, Peebles believes the real estate industry is no further along than when he started. He feels a personal obligation to make sure this changes for future generations. “If we’re not the ones to do it, then who's going to do it? And if it's not at this time, when?”

Credit: Ebony

By Jessica Cherner

The island of Manhattan boasts so many soaring towers, that it’s hardly news when a new one shoots up—even if its spire pierces the clouds. That said, now and then, there’s an exception in the form of an ambitious architectural masterpiece, like the west side’s new 90-story Affirmation Tower, a five-tiered, terrazzo-clad skyscraper that, upon closer inspection, appears to be upside down. Developed by Don Peebles, the chief operating officer at the Peebles Corporation, and designed by AD100 architect Sir David Adjaye, Affirmation Tower is as symbolic as it is enormous (1,663 feet tall and two million square feet.) Not only is the statuesque mixed-use building developed, built, and funded by Black- and female-owned businesses, but its tenants will be minority entrepreneurs (with the exception of the local NAACP offices, among Affirmation Tower’s earliest tenants to move in).

The monumental tower, which will be moving into one of Manhattan’s last few acres of unoccupied land, gives Manhattanites another reason to venture toward the Hudson River. After all, there’s nothing anyone with an aching curiosity couldn’t do there: The Affirmation Tower will feature a skating rink, at least two hotels, an entertainment complex, and a rooftop eatery and ballroom.

Here are five reasons why the Affirmation Tower is shaking up New York’s real estate game in a big way:

A Majority-Black Team Is Leading the Project
Developed by Don Peebles and designed by Ghanaian British architect Sir David Adjaye, Affirmation Tower is the work of a majority-Black team, including those funding the project. “A project like Affirmation Tower is long overdue for New York City. This project will be a beacon of diversity for generations to come,” Peebles notes, “People of color and women make up the vast majority of this city’s population, but that representation is not reflected in the current architectural and development landscape. It is an all too rare opportunity for us to make the world’s most iconic skyline more inclusive than it’s ever been before.”

It’s the Tallest Building in New York City
Manhattan’s seemingly unchanging skyline has been dotted with iconic structures—the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and, as of 2014, One World Trade Center—but there’s a proverbial new kid on the block (or rather a 1.2-acre plot of state-owned land) that’s giving everyone across the Hudson something fabulous over which to fawn. Affirmation Tower is shaping up to be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, but the architect and developer held back for one specific reason: September 11, 2001. Out of respect for the 2,996 people who lost their lives on one of New York’s most tragic days, the team decided to make Affirmation Tower slightly shorter by spire height than One World Trade Center, a stunning tribute of remembrance and compassion. That said, the tower is taller by floor.

Minority- and Female-Owned Companies Are at the Forefront
The Affirmation Tower is more about reviving the American dream than it is about anything else. The team was keen on making such a dream accessible to everyone—especially those whose visions and voices tend to fall to the wayside, like those of women and people of color. The project’s partners agreed that they’d give more than 30% of construction work to minority and female contractors. They’re serious about New York City being a melting pot of economic and cultural inclusion—especially when it comes to the sites that represent the city itself.

Architect Sir David Adjaye Designed It
Sir David Adjaye is no stranger to eye-catching structures around the world—the Africa Institute in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; The Webster in Los Angeles, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., to name a few—and his newest outpost fits in his repertoire of unusual, dramatic structures that are unequivocally backed by a powerful narrative. Adjaye certainly doesn’t have a palette or style to which he adheres, but he does have a signature: exceptionally bizarre shapes and demure yet noteworthy palettes. His newest project, Affirmation Tower, checks all of the boxes: It comprises five rectangular boxes that grow in size (from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet) as they climb toward the top of the tower. It almost looks like it may tip over on a windy day.

It’s an Ode to Black Culture
The boxes are clad in floor-to-ceiling glass windows that sit within a milky white terrazzo façade whose shape mimics afro picks, a subtle tribute to Black culture. Peebles admitted that he sees himself in the shape, as he carried such picks around during his early days in New York throughout the 1970s. The massive tower will house quite a few businesses, making Affirmation a destination for hospitality, retail, and commercial businesses (plus visitors who enjoy gushing over modern architecture), but perhaps the place people may enjoy the most is the plaza garden where beautiful tributes to historically significant Black New Yorkers stand proud.

Credit: Architectural Digest