It’s been 30 years since the commercial real estate market was this bad—and that represents a generational entry point for investment, according to a top developer.
The hybrid-work trend and high interest rates have sent commercial real estate values crashing in major cities, with Morgan Stanley warning earlier this year that office prices could face a 30% drop as a result of lower demand.
But Don Peebles, chairman and CEO of Peebles Corporation, said his company looks to develop when the market supply is tight and buy when it sees exceptional value.
“And what we’re seeing here in the commercial office space is essentially once-in-a-generation…opportunities to buy,” he told CNBC on Friday. “Nothing like this has happened since the early 1990s.”
That’s when a banking crisis resulted in hundreds of lenders shutting down, allowing Peebles to acquire some buildings for just 20 cents on the dollar, he added, as properties held by failed savings and loans were liquidated.
In fact, the acquisitions Peebles Corp. made in cities like Washington, D.C., back then were the foundation that enabled the company to develop in other parts of the country, the CEO said.
When it comes to today’s commercial real estate market, Peebles estimated that values for commercial office buildings in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., are down 60%-70%, with Los Angeles down 70% or more.
But Peebles sees a rebound coming that developers can take advantage of, if they have the stomach for it.
“Those are global cities that will come back at some point in time,” he said. “So you have to have the appetite to buy, understand how to stabilize the assets based on the current income potential, and then wait.”
To be sure, he expects the market to adjust to the new hybrid-work environment, with the supply of commercial office space declining as many buildings are “converted or repositioned or demolished.”
“And then you have the others that are basically worth nothing—the D class,” he told Fortune in February. “Those just have to be torn down. That’s probably at least 30% of all offices in the country.”
“I think that I’m a little contrarian in that I continue to believe in office,” KDM Financial CEO Holly MacDonald-Korth said in an interview with Fortune earlier this year. “We’re currently in a trough … But I don’t think that [in the] long term, offices are going away forever.”
Where Don Peebles sees ‘once in a generation’ opportunities to buy commercial real estate
Don Peebles, chairman and CEO of Peebles Corporation, joins CNBC’s Power Lunch to discuss commercial real estate outlooks, the March jobs report, and more.
Don Peebles’ eponymous real estate development firm is stepping into the private credit space.
The Peebles Corporation announced Friday that it has founded Willowbrook Partners, a Miami-based private credit firm that aims to provide bespoke credit solutions in the $5 million to $50 million range for commercial real estate projects, CO has learned.
Peebles will serve as co-chairman of the board for the new lending company.
Peebles’s son, Donahue Peebles III, who will also serve as co-chairman of the new venture, told CO that the Peebles Corporation anticipates Willowbrook Partners to complete “several hundred million dollars” worth of transaction volume in its first year of operation.
“We have some big ambitions on total transaction value over the first year,” said Donahue Peebles III. “And we’re excited to jump in at a moment where we can add a ton of value to sponsors looking to invest in markets that we’re extraordinarily familiar with.”
Willowbrook Partners will be led by CEO Sten Sandlund, a four-decade CRE veteran who previously served as principal at Safko Capital and senior vice president at Israel Discount Bank of New York. Sundlund said that, in its first year, Willowbrook Partners is targeting mainly bridge lending and value-add lending in the “middle market space,” between $5 million and $50 million per project.
“Part of it is that I’ve found the middle market to be a great place to work throughout my entire career,” he said. “Eighty-five percent of all commercial real estate in the U.S. are middle-market assets, so it’s a nice niche to work in.”
Donahue Peebles III noted that, besides bridge and value-add lending, Willowbrook Partners will also lend on acquisition and pre-development financing. The firm aims to target investments across all asset classes, but will primarily focus on projects situated up and down the Interstate 95 corridor that stretches from Boston and New York to the Carolinas and South Florida.
“It will be asset classes that we’re familiar with and markets where we have been active historically and, as a consequence, have a fair degree of underwriting certainty as we move through the process,” he said.
In terms of the timing, both Peebles and Sandlund emphasized that the recent retreat of traditional lenders from large-scale CRE lending, together with more stringent capital requirements and the ongoing consolidation of many regional banks, have created a need for private credit to solve many problems associated with upside down CRE capital stacks.
“We’re living through what we can consider a seismic shift in the banking sector’s approach to commercial real estate lending, and it’s left a broad avenue open for private credit to step in and add value with limited institutional competition,” said Donahue Peebles III.
Sandlund said that the current bifurcation between institutional lenders and private lenders has been years in the making, and that many traditional lenders have been incentivized to offer only loans with lower loan-to-value ratios on CRE transactions – leaving the door open for middle-market private credit solutions on many projects.
“That makes it a fit for a private lender to work in concert with the institutional lenders and to take up that side of the market,” he said.
Willowbrook Partners will be primarily capitalized out of the Peebles Corporation family office. The firm believes that its decades of experience on the side of real estate development will translate into a new era of relationship banking from an upstart lender who knows what it’s like to be on the sponsorship side of the CRE equation.
“We’re developers who know what it’s like to be on the other side of the table, and as a consequence, we know how to behave as a lender so that our developer clients receive appropriate feedback on appropriate timelines,” said Donahue Peebles. “It’s what attracted us to the business model and made Sten the best person to run this business for us.”
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As landlords struggle to navigate New York regulations and as loans backed by multifamily become increasingly at risk, some owners are attempting to make a dash from the asset class before their day of reckoning comes.
To most, acquiring apartments or building new no longer makes sense since the expiration of the 421-a tax abatement. But during a Bisnow panel Thursday about penciling out multifamily deals in the challenging capital markets environment, developers Rockrose and Tishman Speyer said they are eager to make moves.
“I consider the next two years to potentially be some of the best of my career,” Ty Barnes, managing director of affordable and workforce housing at Tishman Speyer, said at Bisnow's New York Multifamily Development and Investment event, held at Convene 225 Liberty St.
Last year, just 1,035 properties traded hands in New York City for a combined $7.4B — a year-over-year drop of 35% and 52%, respectively, according to a report by Ariel Property Advisors.
Values for rent-stabilized apartments have substantially fallen from 2015 peak pricing, down an average of 18% across the five boroughs and as much as 51% in northern Manhattan, according to the report. That is attributed to the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, which eliminated landlords’ ability to raise rents by 20% when stabilized units become vacant and reduced the renovation costs that owners can recover to just $15K over 15 years, causing many apartments to sit empty after tenants move out.
The panel of real estate executives described sellers as “capitulators,” “losers” and “taking a hit” in this environment.
“People are facing guns. They're going to have to transact,” said David Schechtman, who heads Meridian Investment Sales’ middle-market team.
“When we look at projects, we look at it both ways: with or without 421-a,” Rockrose Chief Operating Officer Richard Brancato said. “If we can live with it without 421-a, we buy it.”
Well-capitalized developers like Tishman and Rockrose are expected to be opportunistic, especially knowing the demand for housing that exists in New York City. Last month, rents across the boroughs set new records for the month of February.
Avison Young principal Scott Singer added that he is seeing younger generations of real estate empires entering the mix.
“Several have said, ‘This is the type of environment where my ancestors built a portfolio, and this is the first time in my career that feels like everyone's running away,’” Singer said.
Still, New York being on sale doesn't mean investors are acting rapidly, especially with questions surrounding a 421-a replacement and the 2019 rent law.
“We don’t know what the rulebook is,” Tishman’s Barnes said. “Go to a lot of other markets and you have much more certainty. That’s what matters for capital.”
A former fundraiser for then-President Obama defended former President Trump against the $464 million bond levied against him by a New York judge, telling Fox News the Empire State obviously wants to inflict "pain" in case the GOP nominee wins his appeal.
Trump was ordered to remit a $464 million bond ahead of his appeal, or face potential liens or property seizures as threatened by New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James after Judge Arthur Engoron handed down the landmark fine.
On Thursday, however, Don Peebles suggested to Fox News the situation is a ploy to disrupt Trump's presidential campaign and hurt him personally before that ability is lost in future proceedings, and that James "made a mistake."
Peebles, a Miami Beach real estate developer, underlined he's been a supporter of James for a long time and praised her support for minority-owned businesses since her time representing Fort Greene on city council in the early 2000s.
"I have expressed concern that I think that this is a very slippery slope to selectively enforce an archaic law that has got no victim," Peebles said on "Your World," adding James should allow Trump to continue the appeals process unimpeded if she is confident in her case.
Peebles also said the bond has nothing to do with whether Trump is a flight risk, but more so a guarantee of sorts the state of New York is able to damage Trump while it has the chance.
"I think they are confident, or think it's likely that this will get reversed, and then there will be no punishment," he said.
"So they're rushing to inflict as much pain on him as they can right now because once the appeals court puts an end to this, then there will be no repercussions," Peebles explained, adding the case appears to embody a "tactic" of distracting Trump from the campaign trail.
While the two men are both Florida-based real estate developers, Peebles noted he retains differences with Trump, including over past suggestions Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii. In 2016, Trump declared he formally believes Obama was born in the United States.
The developer has not held back when asked about criticism of President Biden either, as he told Fox Business in a February interview the Democratic Party should "turn the page" on their nominee.
"I don't see how [Biden] can beat Donald Trump," Peebles said at the time.
"If all that's been thrown at the former president has been thrown at him and he's still ahead in the polls, it's telling us all something that Americans don't want [Biden] and this administration anymore, and it's time for him to move on for the good of the country."
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
"Former Obama fundraiser Don Peebles weighs in on the looming deadline for former President Trump to come up with a half-billion-dollar bond in his New York civil fraud case on 'Your World.'"
Miami has long been a destination where people will do just about anything to score VIP tables in crowded clubs and coveted reservations at the city’s hottest tables. But many care about more than simply getting behind the velvet rope—they want a luxury experience that feels rare or one of a kind, and that's where members-only clubs come in.
These exclusive hangouts range from beach clubs where you’ll always find a sunny seat to exclusive lounges, dining clubs, and sports-focused spaces with padel courts. And while, in some ways, this concept feels like a thing of the past, members-only clubs in Miami are popping up now more than ever.
“[There’s] a growing desire for exclusive, sophisticated, and personalized experiences that cater to a variety of interests,” says Maryam Miranda, owner and operator of Seaspice and AIR, a new members club slated to open this summer. “Offering an escape from Miami’s conventional club scene, private clubs allow for a more curated and intimate social environment to see and be seen.”
Miami is now home to at least a dozen members-only clubs, but the thirst for this type of experience dates back more than 100 years. Pioneered by The Bath Club, which remains open today, locals have been visiting members-only clubs since 1926, when a trip to the venue meant rubbing shoulders with the airline industry’s William Boeing, jewelry magnate Pierre Cartier, and former President Herbert Hoover.
Now dining clubs with sky-high prices like ZZ’s Club dominate the scene alongside other spaces geared toward a younger generation at a more affordable price point. So whether you want to get in on the fun yourself or simply gawk at sky-high prices and wild application questions, here’s everything you need to know to join the most exclusive members-only clubs in Miami.
Miami Beach
The Bath Club is Miami Beach’s oldest private membership club and when it opened in 1926, it was the preferred hideaway for wealthy businessmen and world leaders. In 1996, entrepreneur Don Peebles became the club's first Black member and would go on to purchase the property, keeping the club’s sophisticated ambiance and promoting “inclusive exclusivity.” The Bath Club reopened in 2021 after extensive renovations and the historic beach club includes a fine dining restaurant and cocktail lounge. Outside, guests have access to a pristine stretch of beachfront, a sparking pool, and clay tennis courts.How to get in: To start an application, you’ll have to first fill out a membership inquiry form that asks questions about your education level, greatest achievement, and favorite travel destination. Questions about membership can be directed to membership@thebathclub.com.
Miami Beach and Miami River
If you're the designated reservation-booker in your group, the MM CLUB membership is going to be of interest. This new membership offers access to exclusive dining and lounge experiences in Miami and Orlando with menus curated by chef Michael Michaelidis, known for helming the Riviera Dining Group. You’ll get preferential status and last-minute bookings at MILA, Casa Neos (which is scheduled to open this summer in Miami River), and AVA MMin Orlando. If that’s not enough, MM has partnered with Vanquish Yachts to offer members eight-hour rides on a 12-person V45 yacht, which also comes with a captain and steward. How to get in: Prospective members can join with a referral from two current members and an approved application, which is sent out after completing an online intake form. For more information, please email info@rivieradininggroup.com.
Design District
This exclusive Miami District padel club is perfect for those who want to break a sweat in a state-of-the-art facility. Building upon the success of the company's New York location in Hudson Yards and Miami Seaplane Base padel clubs, both of which are accessible to the public with optional membership benefits, the Design District location serves as Reserve’s first members-only club, offering three, sleek glass-enclosed padel courts and onsite amenities like a pro shop stocked with high-end padel gear and Reserve-branded apparel. Membership also includes access to the Miami Seaplane Base location and comes with priority booking and access to special events and activations at both locations. How to get in: The club is invitation only and interested parties can email designdistrict@reservepadel.com to inquire about membership.
Miami Beach
Tucked inside the Mondrian South Beach, Baia Beach Club opened in 2020 and features an indoor and outdoor restaurant, plus a gorgeous pool that overlooks Biscayne Bay. Beach Club members get discounted rates on food, and the restaurant features elevated dishes like fresh oysters, Galician-style octopus, and a hearty lamb ragu. If you’re into fitness classes, membership also gets you access to yoga and fitness boot camps as well as a $150 annual spa credit. Water sports enthusiasts can take advantage of the complimentary book dockage (for the first four hours) along with complimentary kayaks and paddle boards. How to get in: Membership requirements include an application accompanied by a headshot. There’s a $200 enrollment fee and membership starts at $2,400 a year. For inquiries contact info@baiabeachclubmiami.com.
Miami Beach
Located in a restored Art Deco building that overlooks Miami Beach, Soho Beach House is an outpost of the London-based social club that’s a favorite of young professionals and creatives. The club’s outdoor spaces—outfitted with straw lamps, hanging patio lights, and preppy striped beach loungers—are a chill haven for after-hours drinks and mellow pool parties. The property is both a hotel and members club, and club members have full range of hotel amenities which include an eighth-story rooftop pool, beach chairs and loungers, spa, and an indoor/outdoor gym space. Cecconi’s, the property’s courtyard Italian restaurant, offers spaghetti lobster and wood oven pizzas, and the second-floor club restaurant serves up shareable plates of arepas and croquettes. Locals can soon join the brand's second location Miami Pool House, slated to open later this year. How to get in: To begin the membership process, you’ll have to first create an online profile with a photo and short bio. Membership options include access to your local Soho House or to the global portfolio of Houses. Membership starts at $665.50 per quarter, and if you’re under 27, you’ll be granted a discounted membership until your 30th birthday.
Miami Beach
Home to a kaleidoscopic basement skating rink and bowling alley, The Miami Beach EDITION is also home to a chic private beach club. Opened in 2014, the beach club offers members beachfront loungers and daybeds with food and drink service, use of two pools, and preferred rates on spa treatments and hotel rooms. The poolside restaurant Tropicale has gorgeous ocean views and offers a long list of cocktails and local bites like Florida grouper tacos and jerk chicken sandwiches. How to get in: The beach club has annual membership options for singles, couples, and families, and two member referrals are required. After filling out this online form, which asks applicants to describe why they have “the right profile” for the club, an application will be sent out. For questions, contact mb.membership@editionshotels.com.
Design District
If scoring a reservation at one of the many Major Food Group restaurants that have taken over Miami wasn’t enough, join ZZ’s Club. Since its debut in 2021, the private dining club has been a status symbol among Miami’s high-caliber foodies. The space includes a modern Japanese restaurant, a cigar terrace, and a lounge showcasing a range of music programming—and members also get enhanced access to other Major Food Group restaurants like Carbone, Chateau ZZ, and more. How to get in: Apply for membership via this online form. The application asks about other club memberships and whether the applicant is left- or right-handed, plus requests preferences like favorite cocktail, favorite hotels, and more. The application requires two referrals, including one founding member. Membership is $3,500 annually, with a one-time initiation fee of $10,000.
Miami River
One of the newest kids on the block, AIR will debut this summer with a gold and teal lounge that resembles a luxury superyacht. That being said, the club prides itself on being "worldly and sophisticated, but not lofty and elitist." Located above the waterfront Seaspice Brasserie & Lounge (which has already been christened by guests like David Beckham and Beyonce) the invitation-only club is an extension of the famed restaurant and offers cocktails and elevated bites like caviar, koji cured salmon, and wagyu steak tartare. The club offers 180-degree views of the Miami River, and inside there’s a sleek, chrome-accented bar and a submarine-inspired DJ booth. Membership includes access to exclusive events and entertainment. How to get in: To start the membership process, complete this online intake form. After submission, a team member will be in touch to start the application process. Contact info@airmiami.com with any questions.
No one thinks conditions are as hot and sunny in South Florida commercial real estate as they were for much of the pandemic. But no one’s quite forecasting a cold spell, either. That was the takeaway from Commercial Observer’s South Florida Multifamily & Mixed-Use Forum event last week, which assembled top owners, lenders, brokers and attorneys in Miami.
Both Mitch Sinberg, senior managing director of mortgage banking at Berkadia, and Gregory Freeman, co-founder and co-CEO of BH3 Management, agreed: “There’s a lot of capital sitting on the sideline.”
“The banks here are out of business,” commiserated Stephen Bittel, founder and chairman of Terranova.
Not everyone agreed. It’s all “relative,” said moderator Tony Fineman, senior managing director and head of originations at Acore Capital. Despite his love for New York, Simon Ziff, president of Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, spends many months in South Florida in part because of its active market.
Some developers have Greg Newman, senior managing director at Bank OZK (OZK), to thank for that. Newman, who “remains in growth mode,” has closed three construction loans worth upward of $200 million each in recent months. Just last week, the lender closed a loan for a mixed-use project in Edgewater, spearheaded by Erik Rutter’s Oak Row Equities.
Buyers remain hungry, too. Alex Witkoff is under contract to sell a penthouse at his Shore Club development in Miami Beach for $120 million, which could become Miami-Dade County’s most expensive condo sale ever.
“COVID has supercharged our growth,” said Daniel Schwimmer, chief investment officer at the Allen Morris Company, in a panel moderated by Ryan Bailine, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig.
But Miami didn’t always have all this glitz. It’s easy to forget the transformation the city has gone through over the past three years, let alone the past three decades.
When Nitin Motwani, managing partner at Miami Worldcenter Associates andMerrimac Ventures, got started on Miami Worldcenter — now one of the largest private developments in the country and the location of CO’s event — the area was home to several vacant sites as well as industrial and low-rise buildings.
“It took us 10 years to do the first $1 billion — 10 months to do the next billion,” Motwani said.
Dan Kodsi, founder and CEO of Royal Palm Companies, was also a pioneer as one of the first to develop a luxury condo in Edgewater, when the neighborhood was known mostly for drug dealing and other crime in the 2000s. Now the area is seeing a rush of luxury development.
Similar transformations could be coming to other South Florida asset classes such as office.
“It’s all cyclical. Office will come out,” said Sondra Wenger, CBRE Investment Management’s head of commercial real estate in the Americas.
Some are already preparing for the recovery. Late last year, Constellation Group, led by principal Eduardo Ignacio Otaola, another CO panelist, secured a $33 million construction loan for a mixed-use project with a sizable office component in Coral Gables.
Now retail is recovering from the depth of the pandemic, especially in Miami, according to speakers of the next panel, “Hospitality & Retail: What Disruption and Innovation is Impacting the Market?” which included Nick Falcone, founder and CEO of Rentyl Resorts.
“If you buy at the right basis, you wake up in five years in the right location; Miami retail should trade right,” said Ben Mandell, managing partner and CEO of Tricera Capital.
Curation is key. “Finding those tenants that are really involved, that are going to be incredible advocates for the neighborhood, is something very important,” added Jessica Goldman Srebnick, co-chair of Goldman Properties.
But success brings on new sets of challenges. “Miami got a little greedy and priced itself a bit too high,” said Cassie Resnick, managing director at Mast Capital. “It’s expensive to build.”
Harvey Hernandez, chairman and CEO Newgard Development Group, and Alfonso Costa, COO of Falcone Group, agreed. They were panelists on “Challenges and Opportunities in Luxury Multifamily Development in South Florida,” which was moderated by Philip Rosen, a partner at Shutts & Bowen.
“The difference between the bid and the asking price [is wide],” said Jeffrey Ardizon, principal at The Estate Companies. “We’re being picky.”
The increased cost has forced some to change their business models. “We were a dominant rental high-rise developer just a few years ago in South Florida. Now we are categorically out of that business,” added Greg West, CEO of ZOM Living. “It’s pushed us into the suburbs, where we build garden-style communities and get more in rent.”
These days, perhaps the greatest opportunity of all right now is in affordable housing, thanks to Florida’s Live Local Act. The legislation, enacted last year, grants developers tax breaks and density incentives in return for adding workforce housing units.
“It gives you an arsenal” to get projects done, said Lissette Calderon, CEO of Neology Development.
And “affordable is one of the only products getting financed today,” said Buwa Binitie, founder and CEO of Dumas Collective.
However, it seems like many in the real estate industry don’t realize that. When the panel — titled “What’s Being Done to Help Miami’s Affordable and Workforce Housing Crisis?” moderated by Natalie Levkovitz, co-founder and CEO of Equally Crafted Management — started, the crowd turned over.
And, yet, the importance of affordable housing could not be overstated. “You don’t want your service worker living hours away,” said Alexis Bogomolni, founder and CEO of ABH Developer Group.
The Live Local Act “allows us to bring below market rents for a luxury product,” added Asi Cymbal, chairman of Cymbal DLT Companies.
“I think Live Local is the seminal piece of affordable housing legislation post the low-income tax credit,” said Donahue Peebles III, executive vice president at The Peebles Corporation. The bill “solves the most pernicious issue, which is the missing middle, when folks in the middle get squeezed.”
Then there was the big elephant in the room throughout last week’s forum: Will South Florida experience a crash? Apparently not, according to global power player Miki Naftali, chairman and CEO of Naftali Group: “We’re gonna have a slowdown, but it won’t be as severe as before because of the lack of quality product.”
Panelists also included Joe Berko, CEO of Astor Realty Capital; Carlos Melo, owner of Melo Group; Eugene Rutenberg, CEO and founder of Celestial Fund; Nick Gati, team lead at analytics firm Yardi; and Jess Johnson, global head of partnership at office experience platform HqO. Moderators included Sabina Covo, co-founder of Sabina Covo Communications; Manuel Crespo, a partner at Greenspoon Marder; and Mark Mindick, partner and national real estate practice leader at Citrin Cooperman.
Almost eight years after Mecklenburg County chose a developer to rebuild Brooklyn, the highly scrutinized project is moving along at a sluggish pace.
Recently, the master developer put a part of the property up for sale. The move could unnerve those already skeptical about the project.
But stakeholders say it's all part of the plan.
Why it matters: Some community members are frustrated with the pace of the 17-acre Brooklyn Village redevelopment. Descendants of Brooklyn, once Charlotte's largest Black neighborhood, have waited decades for some type of restitution.
The latest: Donahue Peebles III, executive vice president of The Peebles Corporation, tells Axios it was always their intent to bring on a third-party purchaser that would build in line with the vision for Brooklyn Village.
Horizontal construction of infrastructure and roads is underway to prep the site for multi-family and hotel buildings. Peebles expects that work to finish late this year.
Catch up quick: In 2016, Mecklenburg County selected BK Partners — a partnership between New York-based The Peebles Corporation and Charlotte-based Conformity Corporation — for the redevelopment. The first phase was supposed to finish in 2021.
What happened between 2016 and 2023: Mecklenburg County attributes the prolonged timeline to negotiations over contracts and site plans, developer due diligence and an 18-month closing period, which was extended another five months.
"There's nobody more incentivized than we are to move forward quickly," Peebles says. "Owning vacant land doesn't make anybody money. Owning buildings does."
Flashback: Mecklenburg County sold 5.7 acres in July for Brooklyn Village's first phase for $10.3 million — a price agreed upon in 2016.
Today the 1.56 acres on the market are valued at $8.2 million, according to Mecklenburg County property records.
That's up from 2019 when the land (not including the now-demolished Walton Plaza building) was appraised at $6.9 million. The larger 4.6-acre parcel increased in value from $27 million to $35 million.
In exchange for the discounted price, BK Partners agreed to the county's wish list for the site: build workforce housing, incorporate a park and pave new streets, says county asset director Mark Hahn.
Between 10% and 12% of more than 1,200 residential units will be considered affordable, Peebles says.
Zoom in: Real estate company JLL is marketing the site as a rare opportunity with "vast by right development optionality" — meaning the buyer likely could avoid going through a tedious city rezoning process and build whatever they want.
Yes, but: If the land is sold, the county's contract with BK Partners still stands and requires that what's supposed to be built, is built.
"I know it set off some alarm bells," county commissioner Mark Jerrell says of the real estate listing, "but it's really consistent with the master redevelopment agreement."
Between the lines: In the seven years since Brooklyn Village was agreed upon, transformative plans shaped for The Pearl, next to Brooklyn. Construction is moving fast for that "innovation district," which will be home to Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Brooklyn's incoming neighbor could help BK Partners attract a commercial buyer.
The other side: Construction is slowing in Charlotte and nationwide amid high interest rates and low demand for office space.
But Peebles is optimistic about securing a buyer, ideally a developer experienced in the life science sector.
Another important aspect of the project is Peebles' commitment to hiring minority and women-owned businesses for 35% to 40% of the work. Peebles anticipates exceeding that benchmark once vertical construction gets going.
"We're gonna hold their feet to the fire on that," Jerrell says.
What's next: BK Partners has legal deadlines it must meet, according to the county.
Horizontal construction has to wrap up by March 2025. BK Partners has until August 2025 to start vertical construction of the multi-family component.
Peebles was hesitant to share exact dates but expects the first buildings to open within two to three years. The entire buildout could take at least 12 years.
