Former Walker & Dunlop Pros To Spearhead New Real Estate Arm At Pennington Partners

Pennington Partners & Co., an investment firm that works with entrepreneurs and their families, is heading into the commercial real estate realm with a new venture.

The new vertical, Pennington Real Estate Partners, aims to make direct investments in commercial real estate, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said in a news release. It cited emerging opportunities in areas such as tax-advantaged investment decisions, zeroing in on structured equity, opportunity zones and senior secured lending.

"Pennington Real Estate Partners opens the door to many new opportunities for our clients," Brian Gaister, co-founder and CEO of Pennington Partners, said in the release. "We have expanded our in-house real estate investment expertise that will allow us to capitalize on investment opportunities throughout the United States."

Spearheading the venture will be Taylor Coe and Alex Rongione, institutional investment veterans who joined the firm from Walker & Dunlop Investment Partners. The two worked on the $6.1B equity investing arm of the real estate finance giant. 

"We're thrilled to be joining forces with a top-tier firm like Pennington, where we can add commercial real estate and associated structured finance to the array of opportunities available to our advisory families," Coe and Rongione said in the release.

Pennington was formed in 2016 to manage the family investments of founders Gaister and Rodd Macklin, and it has since expanded to partner with other entrepreneurs and their families to invest their wealth. 

While high inflation and interest rates slowed commercial real estate investment deals last year, family offices have had dry powder to invest and the desire to find opportunities to fill that gap. Over 60% of family offices are eyeing real estate as an attractive investment, according to a 2023 study by Charles Schwab and FINTRX. Pennington Partners Managing Director Sumit Handa told Reuters the firm was one of those eyeing fresh real estate deals.

In 2023, Pennington also launched a private equity platform, Pennington Private Assets. The arm allows clients to work with and invest in opportunities beyond traditional stocks and bonds, namely PE firms. Leading that venture is Greg DeNinno, former managing director of private investments at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.