About ImpactPHL Perspectives:

ImpactPHL Perspectives is a multi-part content series that explores the many facets of the impact economy in Greater Philadelphia from the perspectives of its doers, movers, shakers, and agents of change. Each volume is written directly by a leader in this space, to discuss best practices and share lessons learned while challenging our assumptions about financial and impact returns. For more thought leadership like this, check out the full catalog of ImpactPHL Perspectives.

Donald Manekin, Founding Member of Seawall Development Company

In every aspect of our lives, where we live, shop, work, learn, drive, and play, we are fully connected by the built environment. As a result, the real estate industry has every opportunity to build community, unite cities, and launch powerful ideas. Seawall's work in both Baltimore and Philadelphia fully demonstrates these outcomes.

“As a result, the real estate industry has every opportunity to build community, unite cities and launch powerful ideas.”

Our first Center for Educational Excellence in Baltimore, Miller’s Court, personifies the notion that real estate development is much more than just bricks and sticks and landlords and tenants. Our goals for this Center and the others were to create high-quality, affordable housing for teachers in a supportive community and to create nonprofit office space for those organizations underpinning the success of the public schools. The outcomes for the nonprofit community would be seen in their organizational growth and collaboration. For the communities surrounding the project, we foresaw sparking a revitalization of the neighborhood, creating ongoing economic activity, and creating new jobs, in a previously divested neighborhood. The ideas, outcomes, and successes came not just from us but from teachers new to the two cities and nonprofits who are underpinning the success of public education and the communities surrounding the developments.

We believed that the residents, the businesses that surrounded the projects, and the end-users (teachers and nonprofits) needed to be partners in the development. All three of these projects embraced the idea that listening first and then implementing would be critical to success. From about the very moment that we owned these buildings, we sat with the community residents, shared our vision with them, and took copious notes of their thoughts with pencil and paper. Spending time with the residents sitting on their stoops, we heard amazing stories that transpired over decades. One neighbor shared

“There were a few major problems, mainly related to drugs and abandoned buildings. Down the street, at the old tin can factory (to become Miller’s Court), the building was abandoned and really falling apart. …, but then Seawall came around and I was like, wow. Now we have ample parking; my doctor is around the corner, and I use the pharmacy and the dry cleaners all the time. So yeah, I’m loving life.”

We recognized that because they were the neighbors, they needed to be heard and incorporate their ideas into the design. What came from these voices, among other ideas, was a café, not a brand name but one that felt like the community. They told us that there was no place in Remington where they could hang out over a good cup of coffee and have baked goods and sandwiches. The community challenged us to replace the plans for a 1,000-square-foot apartment on the corner with an open, airy cafe. With that powerful observation and thoughtful idea to remedy it, our course was chosen for us. It became a gathering place for the community, an opportunity for the teachers to get their java hit as they left for school, and the nonprofits could use it for catering their meetings. The owners of the café, named Charmingtons, shared, “We felt a lot of responsibility because when we opened our doors, we were one of the very few retail businesses that had opened in Remington in the last 40 years. It carried a lot of weight to make sure that we were an active part of the neighborhood and had programming that would be useful to people in the community. And with the offerings in the store, it’s all about accessibility, having price points that make everyone feel comfortable.”

The teachers and nonprofits became actual design team members of because we were building for them. Those teachers who participated had been in Baltimore for a year or so and brought to the development what they believed would be critical to making this initial living arrangement for teachers truly an amazing environment. One teacher shared, “I’m so used to living in places where you’re not valued as a tenant, and this was the exact opposite. We have a copy machine and resource room, which is a total lifesaver for a teacher of first graders. In general, I have peace of mind about where I come home to each day, and that makes all the difference.”

“We believed that the residents, businesses that surrounded the projects, and the end-users (teachers and nonprofits) needed to be partners in the development.”

For the nonprofits, they wanted cost-effective and efficient space, and to this end, we developed shared conference/training rooms and kitchen areas that were rent-free, allowing what would have been rent dollars to be invested in programs. Being with like-minded organizations gave rise to the hoped-for collaboration. One executive director shared that “it’s amazing to be in a building with other like-minded organizations. We’re always looking for job partners for the young people in our program. Over the years, many of our longest partnerships have come from relationships with other nonprofits in Seawall buildings.”

Because of the nature of these buildings, their locations, and the intended users, financing took advantage of Historical Tax Credits, New Market Tax Credits, soft city, and state loans. The projects met several important criteria to qualify;

The buildings were in distressed communities
The revitalization incorporated environmentally sustainable designs
The project would not be able to proceed without these financing vehicles
The projects expected to generate social and economic benefits to the surrounding communities.

As a result, what became the realities for teachers were savings in housing costs, improved quality of residential life, and increased commitment and positive teaching experiences. The nonprofits strengthened their collaboration and increased their professionalism and opportunities for growth. The neighborhoods saw an increased ‘sense of place’.

In 2015 Enterprise Community Partners, because of their New Market Tax Credit investment, authored a study on the impact that their financing made. As they looked back, their study shared that the fundamental economic success factors included contributing to job growth, generating increased tax revenues, and increased economic activity and local spending within the neighborhood.

As we look back, the key success factors included our making a full commitment to the communities we were serving:

Showing up by moving our offices to the community so we could be seen as neighbors and not guests
Spending hours sitting on the residents’ stoops getting to know them
Becoming members of their community associations
Having the community be part of the planning and developments that have transpired since the first project

We have been intentional about exceeding their expectations for the teachers and nonprofits by hosting breakfast spreads as they leave in the morning for their schools and hosting an annual dinner with the CEO of the city school system. We host Brown Bag Lunches regularly for the nonprofits that bring speakers in to share their knowledge. Finally, having strong financial partners has brought new capital to the table and leveraged existing capital as we continue to develop in Remington.

Donald Manekin is the co-founder of Seawall Development Company. He has worked on community-focused real estate development, civic leadership, and philanthropic missions in the Baltimore-Washington region for more than four decades, serving as the Senior Vice President of Manekin Corporation, the chief operating officer of the Baltimore City Schools, and graduate professor at Johns Hopkins University, M.I.T., and Loyola University Maryland.