L&L MAG Closes First Deal to Develop 460-Unit Rental Residential Building in Heart of Chelsea

NEW YORK, Dec. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- L&L MAG, the new real estate development firm launched earlier this year by MaryAnne Gilmartin with L&L Holding Company founders David Levinson and Robert Lapidus, today announced its first ground up development deal – a 460-unit rental residential building at 241 W. 28^th Street in Chelsea. The project will be developed under the Affordable NY program with 30 percent of its units reserved for low- and middle-income New Yorkers. Renowned architecture firm COOKFOX has been selected to design the building. Construction is expected to begin in 2019.

To initiate the development of this complex site, a block-through parking lot owned and operated by Edison Properties and long-designated for redevelopment, MaryAnne Gilmartin and her team pursued an innovative approach. L&L MAG structured a 99-year ground-lease with Edison and will be building a public parking garage for Edison as part of the new development. L&L MAG is partnering with Atalaya Capital Management and Qualitas, one of the biggest asset managers in Australia, for which 241 West 28^th Street will be their first US-based investment.

"We founded L&L MAG to pursue projects that provide value to the community we are building in, to enhance the fabric of our city architecturally and to deliver value to our partners, and I am thrilled that our first development delivers on all of those principles," said L&L MAG CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin. "We brought together the perfect team for this project – Atalaya and Qualitas – and have shown we can advance the most complex deals in a very short period of time. We are going to pursue a diverse set of projects across sectors and expect this will be the first of many."

Atalaya Capital Management's real estate group makes credit and opportunistic investments in structured debt and equity across the United States, including GP investments in ventures with developers and operating partners.  

"We are thrilled to establish a co-GP relationship with L&L MAG and partner with one of Australia's most renowned institutional investors in the multifamily space. Atalaya looks forward to partnering together on many successful transactions to come," said Young Kwon, Atalaya's Head of Real Estate.

"Our business is well established in managing the capital of global investors in our home markets, however we identified that our domestic Australian investor base could not easily access the type of blue-chip opportunities that MaryAnne and her team can generate in a gateway city such as New York," said Mark Fischer, co-founder and Managing Director of Principal Investments at Qualitas. "This first investment with L&L MAG and the opening of our New York office will serve as a platform for Qualitas to deliver a pipeline of compelling opportunities to our domestic investors. The opportunity to provide exposure to a Class A multifamily asset, in a neighborhood such as Chelsea, does not come along often."

After an invite-only design competition, L&L MAG chose Rick Cook and COOKFOX, a firm that is the best and most prolific team for innovative contextual and sustainable development in New York. The L&L MAG team had previously worked with COOKFOX on 550 Vanderbilt and 535 Carlton in the Pacific Park development in Brooklyn.

"We are excited by the opportunity to work with LLMAG to restore a missing piece of the historic Garment District," said Rick Cook, Partner at COOKFOX. "The vision for 241 West 28th Street is to create a new residential building that is inspired by both the beautiful, powerful masonry buildings of the neighborhood, and biophilic design strategies that connect its residents with nature and reduce its environmental impact."

The Cushman & Wakefield team of Steve Kohn, Alex Hernandez and Alex Lapidus represented L&L MAG in arranging the joint ventures with Atalaya and Qualitas.

Susi Yu and Jeff Rosen, Managing Directors at L&L MAG, led the deal with support from the rest of the founding team, Adam Greene and Ashley Cotton.

About L&L MAG
L&L MAG is a real estate development company founded by David Levinson, Robert Lapidus and MaryAnne Gilmartin. The company brings together purposeful, committed builders to develop beautiful projects that enhance the skyline and streetscapes of our communities while delivering value to partners and investors. We are a proud woman co-founded and managed company dedicated to inclusivity in the real estate industry. For more information, visit www.llmag.com.

About Atalaya Capital Management 
Atalaya Capital Management is a privately held, SEC-registered, alternative investment advisory firm.  Atalaya focuses on private credit and special opportunity investments in three principal asset classes – real estate, corporate and specialty finance.  Founded in 2006, Atalaya is headquartered in New York City and has approximately $4 billion in assets under management.  For more information, visit www.atalayacap.com.

About Qualitas
Qualitas is one of Australia's leading real estate investment management firms specialising in real estate equity and debt investing.  Established in 2008, the firm has invested in or financed assets valued at over $8.5 billion since inception. The firm invests across the capital structure in senior debt, mezzanine debt, preferred equity and equity with a focus on development, value add, opportunistic and structured investments. Qualitas manages discretionary funds on behalf of institutional and wholesale clients in Australia, Asia, and Europe.

About COOKFOX
COOKFOX Architects, DPC is a New York City based architectural and interior design studio founded in 2003. COOKFOX has built a studio focused on high-performance, environmentally responsive design and is most well-known for innovative design at the highest standards of environmental performance. COOKFOX focuses on biophilic design to create architecture that supports physical health and mental wellness. With a portfolio of diverse residential, workplace, and education projects, COOKFOX seeks to pursue architecture that restores, regenerates, and elevates our collective experience of the urban environment.

Media Contact: Erin Holin, [email protected], 917.232.0701

SOURCE L&L MAG

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