Gucci and Artsy partnered to raise awareness of gender equality in the art world.
By Kristen Tauer
After an intimate dinner at the Faena Hotel, the crowd headed north to the Bath Club, where Gucci and Artsy were celebrating their latest partnership with a packed VIP party, cosponsored by Bombay Sapphire.
Inside the club, Timo Weiland was fired up about the upcoming Senate election in Alabama, and the possibility of Democratic nominee Doug Jones winning over Republican nominee Roy Moore, who is mired in accusations of sexual harassment. “Let’s really keep our fingers crossed that Dec. 12 proves to be a real new chapter,” Weiland enthused. “It would be a huge upset for the administration, which for the rest of us, the majority of people in America, it’d be a huge win.”
Artsy and Gucci are themselves taking a political stance this year at Art Basel, with their partnership aimed at raising awareness of gender equality in the art world. The collaboration spans “Artists for Gender Equality,” a series of three short films, and an installation at the Bath Club featuring works by Samara Golden, Jillian Mayer, Maria Nepomuceno and performances by FlucT and Devonté Hynes.
“I’m a huge fan of Carter [Cleveland] and what he’s built with Artsy, and also Gucci,” Weiland said, pointing to the Italian brand’s move toward gender non-conforming collections.
Suddenly, at the strike of midnight, the lights turned on. The party was over.
In New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood, a preservationist's dream was finally unveiled after 17 years under scaffolding. The Clock Tower Building at 108 Leonard Street, completed in 1894 by architecture firm McKim, Mead & White—the design team also behind the Brooklyn Museum, the Washington Square Park Arch, and the now-razed Penn Station, among many other iconic 19th century marvels—has a revealed a façade that has returned, in a way, much to its original roots. After years of disrepair, the Italian Renaissance Revival exterior of this landmarked property has been meticulously restored by Howard L. Zimmerman Architects, down to the face of the clock on its three-story topper.
When purchased by the Elad Group and Peebles Corporation in 2013, the 13-story Clock Tower Building—which spans an entire city block—became the City of New York’s largest NYC Landmark building ever sold. Originally built as the headquarters of the former New York Life Insurance Company Building and most recently home to New York City Summons Court, 108 Leonard as we know it today was the brainchild of the pre-eminent architect Stanford White, who also created its distinctive clocktower. Facing the street, the Classical clock is brilliantly engineered as a master timekeeper, commanding smaller clocks throughout the interior of the building.
“It’s one of the last remaining mechanically wound clocks in the Western Hemisphere,” says Alexei Tajzler, a director at Howard L. Zimmerman Architects, “and it’s still operational.” Beyond the clocktower, however, the façade needed significant TLC. Lack of maintenance and patches with tar, a popular cheap fix in the 1970s and 1980s, notes firm principal Howard Zimmerman, required 10,000 line items of repair, achieved only by dividing the surface area into 340 visual quadrants to keep track of the scope of work to be performed. “We wanted to complete a renovation that would be true to the original design,” he explains. But the project was not without its challenges. “Some things were so weathered we had to analyze whether they were concave or convex,” in shape.
Sheathed in White Tuckahoe marble with a granite base, the building is decorated with Renaissance motifs varying from lion heads to fleur-de-lis and Corinthian columns to decorative bronze railings. “This building is like a 100-year-old patient that didn’t eat well, didn’t exercise, and we have to bring it back to life," Zimmerman says. In its second life, 108 Leonard will become a mixed-use residential tower, but from the outside, it will remain as it’s always been. “The motto of our office is ‘not leaving fingerprints.’”
Over 45 days, BLACK ENTERPRISE shares 45 milestone events among the nation’s largest black-owned businesses that have had widespread impact on black economic development and American industry across four decades. This is in tribute to the 45th anniversary of Black Enterprise’s iconic BE 100s yearly list of the largest black-owned companies.
Today we reveal No. 34 in the web series “45 Great Moments in Black Business.”
2004: R. Donahue Peebles makes history in 2002 when his BE 100s real estate firm completes development of Miami Beach’s Royal Palm Resort, the nation’s first black-owned luxury resort. Two years later, he sells the property for a record $127.5 million.
(Real estate mogul R. Donahue Peebles. Image: File)
When BLACK ENTERPRISE covered him in June 2004, he was dubbed “The Prince of South Beach”—and for good reason. He had control of the 417-unit Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort in Miami Beach—the first black-owned luxury resort in the nation—and his company, Peebles Atlantic Development Corp. had amassed a $500 million real estate portfolio and demonstrated a pile-driving 141% revenue growth in a year due, in part, to its focus on “on the red-hot South Florida luxury real estate scene.” As a result, the company was named BE’s Company of the Year. (Today, The Peebles Corp. ranks No. 35 on the BE Top 100 with $102 million in revenues.)
Known for his appearances offering commentary on business cable network CNBC, real estate mogul R. Donahue Peebles has been known as a major industry game changer for years. The Peebles Corp. was recognized as the 2004 Industrial/Service Company of the Year due to its distinction as being one of the biggest black-owned real estate firms and making the historic acquisition of the Royal Palm Resort in Miami Beach, Florida—the first black-owned and -developed resort in the nation. Our editors appropriately dubbed him “The Prince of South Beach.”
To fully appreciate his deal-making prowess and phenomenal payout, one must review its dynamics. Here’s the blow-by-blow account as reported by BE‘s then-Features Editor Alan Hughes some 13 years ago:
While on vacation in Miami Beach with his wife, Katrina, and their then-infant son for the 1995 New Year’s holiday, Peebles came across an article that would reshape his business. “I was reading the paper, and there was a story in The Miami Herald about how South Beach had grown and the real estate market is on fire, and they gave an example of the Shorecrest Hotel that was owned by an investor who paid $900,000 two or three years ago and was now selling it for $5 million,” said Peebles. “And they said it was next door to the Royal Palm Hotel that was owned by the city, which was looking for an African American developer.”
It was the first time Peebles had heard of a project reserved for a specific race. “So I said to myself, ‘How many African American developers are in this county? Not many. How many have the capacity to do a project of this size? Even fewer. And how many are reading The Miami Heraldright now? Probably not many.’ “
There was a reason for the set-aside. Several years earlier, prominent local attorneys H.T. Smith and Marilyn Holifield led a tourism boycott by African Americans, claiming city officials had snubbed South African leader Nelson Mandela when he visited because the former political prisoner made positive remarks about Cuban President Fidel Castro. Miami is home to the largest Cuban population in the U.S. This made the city, which was segregated until the mid-60s, a hotbed for political and social unrest.
As part of the 1993 settlement to end the boycott, which had cost the county an estimated $20 million to $50 million in lost convention business and tourist dollars, Miami Beach agreed to underwrite the development of a black-owned luxury hotel by putting up a long-term $10 million loan to acquire the property. But the deal stalled after four local African American would-be developers, known as the HCF Group, won the original bid but failed to secure additional financing for the estimated $60 million project. “Ultimately, in spite of H.T. Smith and other community leaders [urging] the city commission to reach a deal with HFC, the city commission terminated negotiations,” recalls Peebles.
When the Royal Palm deal came along, Peebles was familiar with both the real estate business and the politics of public/private partnerships. Even more important, he gained control of the Shorecrest Hotel, which would become a pivotal part of sealing the deal. When the city of Miami Beach issued its request for proposal for the Royal Palm, it was conditional on the development of the adjacent Shorecrest property. However, the city had earmarked $10 million to acquire both properties and used $5.5 million of those funds to acquire the Royal Palm, leaving insufficient funds in the budget to meet the $5.5 million asking price for the Shorecrest. Peebles’ earlier acquisition of that property turned out to be highly strategic, because any competing bids for acquiring and developing the Royal Palm had to include the Shorecrest.
The city received seven bids, mainly from major hotel chains that had partnered with African Americans to meet the 51% black ownership requirement. Each bidder was connected to a different hotel chain, including The Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt. Peebles partnered with Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, hammering out a contract in which the hotel chain paid $6 million for the right to brand and manage the property.
The Hyatt team was named the top bidder by the city’s citizens’ selection committee, set up to make recommendations to the city commission. Peebles came in second, while Baltimore developer Otis Warren came in third. The three finalists were then invited to make presentations to the commissioners, but with the recommendation, Hyatt clearly had the edge.
Peebles knew politics was behind it all. “The city’s financial adviser had recommended us financially; we had three loan commitments and nobody else had any,” he said. Peebles, however, had an ace in the hole: the Shorecrest property.
While he hired lobbyists to help him state his case, he personally developed relationships with city councilmen and pressed for their vote commitment. Peebles also had to contend with public opinion from many who thought he was getting a sweet deal because he was African American. Peebles is quick to point out that during that same time period, neighboring hotel Loews also received money from the city. Royal Palm received $10 million to build 400 rooms – some $23,000 per room – while the city invested $60 million in the 800-room Loews – or $75,000 per room. Loews also had 99 years to repay the loan versus 25 years for Royal Palm.
Peebles’ strategy paid off. Not only was there a national spotlight on Miami Beach and the plight of an African American developer, but he wooed the commissioners to vote in his favor. He emerged as the winning bidder in June 1996.
Elated at the time, his joy would be short-lived. Then-Mayor Seymour Gelber, who voted against the Peebles deal, assigned Arthur Courshon, a bank president and staunch opponent of Peebles, to negotiate the final contract. Talks dragged on for months while investors became impatient with delays and mounting expenses. Peebles had hoped to complete the project by year-end 1998—a hope that would quickly fade. Then he had to leap a hurdle with the city’s historic preservation program so Peebles could tear down the faulty structure but had to “build an exact replica of the original.”
When all was said and done, the project came in nearly two years late and costs totaled $82 million—more than $20 million over budget. The property celebrated its grand opening in May 2002. By 2004, the property had a year-round occupancy rate of approximately 70%.
Its completion was heralded throughout the African American business community. “It was huge because it was the first time in the history of this area where you had a substantial development owned by an African American going up on the beach,” said Andy Ingraham, president of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers Inc. “Let’s not forget it was not too far in the distant past when people like Muhammad Ali could fight and train on Miami Beach but could not stay on Miami Beach.”
Peebles would eventually become one of the wealthiest African Americans in the country, with an estimated net worth of more than $700 million and roughly $5 billion, 6 million square foot real estate portfolio. One of his first transactions after that historic development: Selling the Royal Palm for $127.5 million two years later.
Real estate developer Don Peebles discovered he had an interest in the hospitality business when he was very young. He was enthralled seeing his maternal grandfather work as a doorman for the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. It also made him aware of all of the opportunities available in the hotel industry from a very early age.
However, he struggled seeing that women and minorities didn’t have equal footing in the industry. In 1983, Peebles decided the best way to create equal opportunities was to start his own business. He founded the Peebles Corporation, an investment and development firm that specializes in hospitality, real estate, and retail properties. The Peebles Corporation is currently working on projects in New York City, Boston, and Charlotte, and numerous developments in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Miami already line Peebles’ portfolio.
While the company has tended to focus on gateway markets, they’re also looking to work in developing ones. For example, Peebles is looking to build a district called “Brooklyn Village” in downtown Charlotte, N.C.—a location he finds very compelling. Peebles considers Charlotte an emerging city, and over the next 10 years he hopes to create a community of more than a dozen establishments. This includes two hotels and several residential and office buildings. If all goes according to plan, 18 acres should be approved for development in the next 12 to 18 months. “It’s a neighborhood within the central business district, so it gives us a unique opportunity to master plan and develop a neighborhood in a prime location in one of the most exciting growth cities in the country,” Peebles says. This particular piece of land is near Panthers’ Stadium and the Bank of America Headquarters.
The corporation is also planning to renovate the New York Life Insurance Company Headquarters in the Tribeca region of Manhattan, turning the landmark into a condominium with pre-war ornamentation. Peebles describes, “It’s a unique historic landmark building that has all the grandeur of something you would typically find on 5th or Park Avenue. It just happens to be in Tribeca. It represents a tremendous opportunity for our company.”
But development is only one of Peebles’ interests. Peebles became engaged in politics as a young teen in 1973 when Washington, D.C., was first granted the right to elect its own government officials. When he was in high school, Peebles served as a congressional page intern for the House of Representatives.
“Most real estate developers of scale tend to engage in some politics, just in terms of supporting good candidates and a good development profile,” Peebles says. But Peebles’ political involvement is fueled by passion just as much as it is by his real estate career. He became chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in July 2015,and remains involved to this day. Peebles’ interest in politics, driven by his desire to create equal opportunities for women and minorities, was inspired by watching his mother’s difficulty acquiring the same opportunities and pay as men. “One of the things it allowed me to do is engage in a broader discussion nationally about equal access to economic opportunities for minorities and women and that’s something I feel very strongly about,” Peebles says.
Working with the Foundation has allowed Peebles to help open doors for individuals who may not have been available in the past—a step toward leveling the industry playing field. The Foundation provides scholarships for more than 300 students a year, which leads to congressional and private sector internships, providing educational experiences and opportunities to underserved children in minorities. Today, up-and-coming students are benefitting from the internship on Capitol Hill Peebles completed 40 years ago. He says, “What the organization stands for is fairness and what we all get is a fair and equal chance at access to our version of the American dream. That access to the American dream is deeply rooted in equal access to education, equal access to economic opportunities and—of course—equal protection under the law.”
As for what’s next? Peebles is considering running for mayor of New York City. His desire to run stems from a place of frustration—he’s looking to give the city’s women (52.5 percent of NYC’s population) and minorities (67 percent) equal access to opportunities. Peebles believes that without leadership invested in creating a state of equity, it’s never going to happen.
“The greatness of New York is that it’s the most diverse city in America, and everybody can live together in harmony and this is a city where everyone can pursue their dreams: Big, small, and in between,” he says. “If people can’t get a fair chance in New York City, where can they?”
By Daniel J. Sernovitz – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal
A partnership including New York-based developer The Peebles Corp. has sold the Courtyard by Marriott hotel building by Ninth and F streets NW for $83 million, nearly a quarter-century after the developer acquired the historic Riggs Bank building from the Resolution Trust Corp. for just $5 million.
Peebles, with partners The Donohoe Cos. and Penrose Group, sold the 188-room hotel at 900 F St. NW Tuesday to Global Holdings, an international real estate investment company led by Chairman Eyal Ofer. The sale, which works out to nearly $441,500 per room, comes as Peebles gears up to develop what's planned as a five-star SLS Hotel and Residences by Fifth and Eye streets NW a few blocks away.
Peebles President and CEO Don Peebles said the group determined the property's value had peaked and that additional renovations would have been required to boost that figure. The hotel's taxable assessment is about $62 million, according to D.C. land records.
"I think the value of the property had kind of topped off. We got a tremendous return on the investment," Peebles said. "It was just time for us all to go our separate ways. We've been partners for nearly a quarter of a century."
The property was marketed by Eastdil Secured.
The area is a far sight better these days than it was 25 years ago. Across Ninth Street is a Shake Shack and, until it moves to its new home near L'Enfant Plaza, the International Spy Museum. Across F Street is the Gallup Organization's global headquarters. And diagonal is the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
But 25 years ago, the vacant, 10-story office building was just one piece of real estate suffering through the thick of the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. And in a pre-internet world, Don Peebles had to take time out from his honeymoon in Montana to find a notary.
The year was 1992, and the Resolution Trust Corp., formed to liquidate distressed assets, required prospective buyers for the historic Riggs Bank building to have their bids notarized. Peebles found one in the closest town to where he and his new bride were staying. While it took some time, he acquired the 97,000-square-foot office building in 1994 and launched an $18.5 million renovation that converted it into what the WBJ described in a 1999 article as " the crown jewel of F Street."
"I operated from the premise that Washington, D.C. is the most important city in the world and that the core of downtown of the most important city in the world would bounce back," Peebles said. "Basically, I used my gut instinct and had faith in the future of downtown."
Plans to convert the former Family Court building in Center City into a boutique hotel have been declared eligible for a federal tax credit aimed at supporting historic-preservation projects, offering a boost to the long-stalled proposal.
The National Park Service approved developer Peebles Corp.’s renovation plans for the 76-year-old building at 1801 Vine St. on Dec. 29, said a spokesman for the agency, Jeremy Barnum.
The Park Service had rejected an earlier plan for the building from the Coral Gables, Fla.-based developer, ruling that the then-proposed renovations would "severely downgrade" the court building’s historic character.
Barnum said he was unable to discuss changes made to the plan since its rejection in May. Peebles spokeswoman Nicole Goldberg did not respond to an email.
When Peebles was awarded the project in 2014 after a competitive bidding process, Philadelphia officials described the court building’s renovation as a vital step toward further enlivening the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The developer's plan for the vacant Beaux Arts court building called for 199 guest rooms, a 3,500-square-foot ballroom, meeting and board rooms, a spa and fitness center, and a restaurant and bar.
The bid originally called for the building to be developed as part of the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, which operates Center City’s Monaco and Palomar hotels. In July, a Kimpton spokeswoman said her company had never formalized an agreement with Peebles for the Family Court property.
Peebles previously attached an $85 million price tag to the project, though rising construction costs since its original proposal could increase that figure.
Officials with the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office, which administers the tax-credit program with the Park Service, said last year that the credit would knock $14.6 million off Peebles’ development costs, based on previously submitted project estimates.
With the tax-credit approval in hand, Peebles should have new momentum to push forward with its plan for the building, said Peter Tyson, a managing director at commercial real estate firm CBRE’s hotels division in Philadelphia.
The developer now knows how much money it needs to borrow or raise from investors to finance the project, Tyson said, and should find it easier to convince a hotel brand — whether it’s Kimpton or another — to lend its name to the property.
“It should enable all the pieces to come together and get the thing moving,” he said.
