Pennrose

Pennrose is a Philadelphia-based multifamily developer and property manager specializing in affordable and mixed-income housing. Founded in 1971, the firm has built a portfolio spanning the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Midwest, working largely through Low-Income Housing Tax Credit deals, public housing authority partnerships and historic rehabilitation. Pennrose typically pairs with local co-developers and housing authorities, a structure that lets it move into new markets without carrying the political relationships alone. The firm is co-developing The Overlook at Garson in Atlanta with Radiant Development Partners, a $65.7 million project putting 130 income-restricted apartments on Atlanta BeltLine land next to the Lindbergh MARTA station.

Five decades of work adds up to specific numbers. Since 1971 Pennrose counts more than 350 completed developments, over 27,000 rental housing units and roughly $5 billion in total development costs.

Partnership is the mechanism behind those totals. The company reports 90 joint ventures, 55 housing authority relationships, 32 local community development corporations and 50 community and neighbourhood organisations among its development partners, and says virtually every project involves residents and community groups during planning and construction.

Corporate offices sit in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Denver and Houston. Development is organised separately and regionally: Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware, Maryland/DC/Virginia, New England, New York, Midwest, Southeast, Texas, and a Mountain office covering Utah, Colorado and Arizona. Each carries its own phone line and regional vice president, and developers are expected to live in the markets they build in. The apartment search on the company’s own site currently spans seventeen states.

Alongside development sits a management arm covering operations, maintenance, compliance, transition management and commercial leasing. On the environmental side, Pennrose participates in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes programme across many of its developments. That means independent verification by a Green Rater who is not part of the project team, physical testing of air and duct leakage, and ENERGY STAR for Homes compliance on top.

Recent recognition clusters around adaptive reuse and senior housing. The Pryde in Boston’s Hyde Park collected a Boston Preservation Achievement Award, an AIA Design for Aging award, a UL Center for Active Design Best in Building Health award and a NAHMA Vanguard Award for major rehabilitation of a non-housing structure. Mary D. Stone in Auburn, Massachusetts took the Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award and a NAHB Silver Award. Nest56 in Denver and McAuley Station in Atlanta both earned NAHMA Vanguard Awards, and John Arthur Flats in Cincinnati won a USGBC Local Market Leadership Award for quality of life.

Leadership is led by Timothy I. Henkel as chief executive and principal, with Charlie Adams as president of development and Dylan Salmons running Contour Housing Partners. The main Philadelphia line is 267-386-8600.