On Thursday, April 29^th 2021, ULI Philadelphia virtually hosted its 5^th Annual Shark Tank, organized by the Young Leaders Group. Natalie Kostelni, senior reporter for the Philadelphia Business Journal, served as the event’s MC for two developer ‘fish’ who presented their projects in West Philadelphia to a panel of ‘sharks’, James Sanders – Univest Bank and Trust Co., Jeremy Sunkett – Elwyn, Marilyn Jordan Taylor – University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, and Tya Winn – Community Design Collaborative.

Up first in the shark tank was Daniel Harvey of DMH Investments, who described his background working for SEPTA and dipping his toes into real estate as a young professional. He met his goal of retiring from SEPTA by age 35 and becoming a full-time real estate investor. Daniel specializes in mixed-use multi-family development by right. The mission of DMH Investments is to provide high-quality housing to underserved communities.

He presented a 43,000 sq.ft. mixed-use project, ‘6435-45 Media Street’, in West Philadelphia. This development will have 42 rental apartments and 2 ground floor commercial units. There will be a mixture of 1- and 2-bedroom units in a 4-story building with an elevator, 17 parking spaces, and a green roof with rooftop deck. The building was designed to blend into the surrounding lower-density block. The project is expected to serve blue-collar workers from the neighborhood, primarily singles or small families. As one of the first floor uses, it would be ideal to place a restaurant or bar to assist in placemaking within the neighborhood.

The sharks were impressed by Daniel’s history and clear mission statement. They also appreciated his approach towards consolidated development within the community, block by block. They expressed some apprehension about DMH’s capacity and believed the vision for retail in the project would benefit from additional review, due to the small size of the units, the project’s quiet location, and the lack of parking available.

Next up in the shark tank was Dr. Leon Caldwell of Ujima Developers, whose mission seeks to positively impact communities that have experienced systemic underdevelopment by eradicating the link between quality of life and zip code. Dr. Caldwell also came to real estate circuitously, in conjunction with a career in academia and activism. Ujima is a Swahili word for collective work and responsibility, and the group believes in using real estate as a tool for intervention and investment in community returns.

He presented East Parkside Triangle, a master-planned three-part transformation project designed as a holistic equitable development. The Age-Friendly Village is a residential project created in response to work with AARP asking the question- how do you redesign a row home for residents to age in? This affordable and accessible housing project is designed as a multigenerational, mixed-income model. Thrive Village is a 25,000 sq.ft. mixed-use building with a food justice concept. The ground floor delivers a partnership with Honeysuckle Provisions, along with 26 apartments and a wellness/digital health space. There is also an activated outdoor area, including space for commissary kitchen containers allowing for neighborhood business incubation.

Finally, the signature project in East Parkside is STEAM²IE workspace, a hub for STEM, manufacturing, innovation, and entrepreneurship. This 17,000 sq.ft. building focuses on skill building in areas such as welding, robotics, IT, etc. for job training and poverty reduction. This project is in the planning stages with funding and programming partnership from the state RACP, Drexel University, the Fells Foundation, the Reinvestment Fund and others.

The sharks embraced Dr. Caldwell’s bold vision and values-driven development strategy. They highlighted STEAM²IE as the highest priority of the three projects, and suggested Ujima seek out foundational, NIH, and corporate funding as part of his capital raising process. They acknowledged that his capital stack will be very non-traditional, which will increase the time and effort required to secure the necessary funding.

After both presentations, the audience voted on which project they would invest in, with Ujima Developers taking home the most votes by a slim margin. ULI congratulates both teams for excellent presentations and is inspired by their commitment to supporting their communities. As Daniel advised- ‘dream big and get busy doing it!’

ULI would like to thank its event sponsors, whose support made this program possible: Gattuso Development Partners, M&T Bank, Stradley Ronon, and Surety Title Company. Thank you to our brave and bold fish for their presentations and our impressive lineup of sharks for their input and feedback. Special thanks to Young Leaders: Michael Kimmey, Evan Reinhardt, Francesca Fiamingo, Laure Wassen, Jimmy Gastner, and MaryVictoria Barr for their work putting this event together.

Article contributed by Katherine Selch, graduate student at Cornell University studying impact development and ULI Philadelphia Young Leaders Group member. She will be interning with Pennrose this summer.