MAG Partners will bring the development experience, and Safanad will bring the capital.
That’s the setup of a new joint venture between the companies, which is targeting $2 to $3 billion worth of deals, the firms told The Real Deal. Eventually, the joint venture will pursue ground-up development, but in the short-term, it is looking at distressed properties and projects, as well as building conversion opportunities.
The companies are already working together on a 479-unit rental building at 241 West 28th Street in Chelsea. The firms, along with partners Atalaya Capital Management and Qualitas, secured a $173 million construction loan for the project in October.
MaryAnne Gilmartin launched MAG Partners, a spin-off from the firm she formed with L&L Holding’s David Levinson and Robert Lapidus, in December 2019. Gilmartin noted that while her priority since leaving Forest City Ratner in 2018 has been new development, the pandemic has shifted her focus. She described the new arrangement —which will acquire sites and pursue deals as a general partner — as “MAG Partners fueled by Safanad.”
Safanad, a private equity firm that launched in 2009, tapped Oxford Properties Group’s Andrew Trickett in 2018 to help grow its New York real estate operations. Trickett called the joint venture with MAG a “convergence of capital and expertise.”