Rising Stars of the Year
Tony Grelli and Zach Moore | Velocity Venture Partners
Ages: 29
Not yet 30 years old, business partners Tony Grelli and Zach Moore continually prove why they’re rising stars in the region’s commercial real estate scene.
The founders of Bala Cynwyd-based Velocity Venture Partners have rapidly built a robust portfolio that today consists of over 8 million square feet of industrial real estate.
This past year was a busy one for Velocity Venture Partners, which made a number of high-profile acquisitions throughout the region. That included two buildings on 16 acres at 5660-70 Rising Sun Ave. and 400 Adams Ave., purchased last spring from GLH Realty, an affiliate of the Cardone family, for $22.25 million. The 470,849-square-foot Northeast Philadelphia property is occupied by auto parts manufacturer Cardone Industries. Velocity plans to make upgrades so that the property can one day be suitable for multiple tenants.
“Tony and Zach have built an impressive and stellar real estate portfolio in a short span of six years,” said Nadia Bilynsky, a partner at MPN Realty and one of this year’s Best Real Estate Deals and Dealmakers judges. “Their ability to be creative in getting difficult deals to the finish line is exemplary.”
In the latter half of the year, Grelli and Moore purchased four suburban buildings that are or once were office buildings, capitalizing on the shift in real estate needs, underscoring their tenacity and creative thinking. The buildings – in Bucks and Montgomery counties – are planned for conversion to industrial or flex space with the goal of attracting manufacturing, light assembly, warehousing, distribution and services-based businesses.
In total, the buildings – two in Harlesyville, one in Warminister and another in Willow Grove – cost over $51 million to acquire. Already they’ve sold one Haleysville site, without yet making improvements, for nearly double what they paid for it.
Velocity also picked up a 75,000-square-foot building at 1208 Columbus Road in Burlington, New Jersey, for $4.65 million.
Grelli and Moore – both Drexel University alums – are no strangers to South Jersey, where they made a splash when they secured 9000 River Road at the end of 2021. The 600,000-square-foot former manufacturing facility came up for sale through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding for Aluminum Shapes Inc. They secured the property for $32 million in a hotly contested bidding war. The acquisition added to its holdings in Pennsauken, making Velocity the largest industrial landlord in the township, where in 2019 the company purchased the neighboring 8600 River Road property for $12 million. The once vacant property underwent renovations before being fully leased.
They capped a hot 2022 with the acquisition of the 468,000-square-foot Yeadon Industrial Center. Velocity purchased the Delaware County property for $41.75 million and plans to spend $8 million on improvements.
In total, Velocity acquired 37 buildings in 2022 spanning 2.6 million square feet and secured 110 leases for 1.8 million square feet.
Rising Star Honorees
Devon Beverly | associate, Ballard Spahr
Age: 30
An associate at Ballard Spahr, where she works on the Zoning and Land Use team, Devon Beverly is helping clients on some of the biggest developments in the city. That includes Hilco Redevelopment Partners, which is in the process of transforming the 1,300-acre former site of Philadelphia Energy Solutions in South Philadelphia into a 15-million-square-foot life sciences, e-commerce and logistics campus. Beverly worked with HRP on parcelization and land development strategy for the sprawling site, including numerous ordinances. She is also working with Pearl Properties on a project at Sansom and 19th streets, which is expected to be the tallest residential building in the city.
Margo Geppert | senior development manager, Shift Capital
Age: 27
In her five years with Shift Capital, Margo Geppert has been instrumental in bringing a number of projects to fruition, but her most impactful has been 3200 Kensington Ave. The project, situated in the Kensington neighborhood at an intersection where developers have shied away, saw a 14,685-square-foot building rehabilitated and turned into street-level storefronts with apartments above. The project cost $4.25 million and was a partnership between Shift, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and LISC Philadelphia. Of the 16 residences, 25% are reserved for those earning 50% of the area median income and the rest are for those earning 80% AMI.
Kevin Healey | managing director, Tri State Commercial Precision
Age: 34
In 2022, Kevin Healey completed $30.4 million in lease deals and $18.35 million in sales, including representing the seller of the newly opened 1822-1824 Chestnut St., the landlord of Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, and Driven Brands in its purchase of two South Jersey properties. Most notably, though, Healey represented California discount chain Grocery Outlet in four area leases. In addition to sites in University City and Northeast Philadelphia, he worked with the grocer to secure its lease in Sharswood. That store opened last summer and marked the first large grocery store to plant its flag in the neighborhood, which was previously considered a food desert.
Ryan Kalili and Henry Siebert | founding partners, Archive Development Group
Ages: 24
Henry Siebert and Ryan Kalili have been making waves in commercial real estate since they were college students. Together they launched Archive Development Group in Philadelphia and by the time they graduated – Siebert from the University of Pennsylvania, Kalili from Stanford University – had three projects. Their first was a six-unit building with retail space at 1208 N. 29th St. in the Brewerytown neighborhood. That project demonstrated their acumen, assembling multiple lots from different owners, demolishing an existing structure and then developing what exists today. They haven’t slowed down since. In 2022, their total development volume was valued at over $100 million across 300 units and 10 buildings. Of those completed were properties at 2414 Frankford Ave., 2006 W. Girard Ave., and 2525 Frankford Ave. The latter has seven units and its retail space is occupied by Forîn Café. Future plans include the development of 1000 N. Delaware Ave., which will span over 88,000 square feet and have 114 units which they hope will activate the southern portion of the Frankford Avenue corridor in Fishtown.
Roman Melnyk | sales associate, MPN Realty
Age: 28
With MPN Realty for two years, Roman Melnyk has been working to grow the firm’s industrial sales and leasing, including representing families who have held their real estate for generations and those looking to establish similar generational longevity. In 2022, Melnyk worked on $23.6 million of deals, including the sale of the Clay Studio in Old City. The acquisition involved two adjoining buildings with structures dating back to 1920. Melnyk’s other notable transactions last year included an off-market sale of 4901 Cottman Ave., a 47,000-square-foot warehouse in which he represented both the buyer and seller.
Victor Rodin | CEO, RREI LLC
Age: 33
In 2021, RREI purchased a site at 5th and Spring Garden streets in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia. In just under two years, the entire city block has been transformed into a mixed-use apartment community known as the Carson. Spanning 12 stories and 373 residential units, the Carson has 25,000 square feet of amenity space, 20,000 square feet of retail and about 40,000 square feet for a grocery tenant. Developing the site required tenacity from Victor Rodin and his father, Neal. It took five years to secure the 100,000-square-foot parcel – which was owned by 11 different entities – and city approvals. In 2022, Rodin undertook $160 million in development.
Andrew Roth | vice president, investments, Campus Apartments
Age: 33
With Campus Apartments for a decade, Andrew Roth has helped grow the Philadelphia company’s holdings considerably and in 2022 alone was involved in some $650 million worth of transactions. With communities across the nation, Roth’s clients in 2022 were in Arizona, Virginia, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina. Throughout his tenure at Campus Apartments, Roth has worked to add 8,500 beds, whether through development or acquisition, and has worked on over $800 million in investments. His work also includes repositioning assets and renovations to increase the firm’s portfolio value.