MCB Real Estate Continues Momentum with $1.3 Billion in Acquisitions in 2025

Firm Now Manages 22 Million Square Feet Representing $4 Billion in Total Assets

MCB Real Estate, an institutional commercial real estate investment management firm and developer with nationwide holdings, experienced a strong year in acquisitions in 2025, securing nearly $1.3 billion in new assets and delivering more than $500 million of new development projects. The additions bring MCB’s property under management total to nearly 22 million square feet with $4 billion in assets across retail, mixed-use, multifamily, industrial, office, and healthcare properties, with an additional six million square feet under development.

Building on years of disciplined execution and strategic investment, 2025 saw the firm continue to expand its platform, delivering increased value for investors, partners, and the communities it serves. Over the course of the year, MCB acquired approximately 2.8 million square feet of commercial space and 690 residential units, while delivering 311,000 square feet and 775 units across industrial, retail, multifamily, and mixed-use developments.

Throughout the year, MCB capitalized on opportunities across the nation, from retail centers in Texas and multifamily assets in Ohio and luxury apartments and retail in New York City. The volume and diversity of acquisitions, developments, and tenant additions demonstrate the firm’s multi-sector expertise. MCB, along with its investment partners, also executed a series of strategic dispositions, totaling 422,000 square feet and approximately $159 million in gross value, recycling capital from mature assets to further strengthen the portfolio and support future investment initiatives.

“The past year has been one of strong momentum for MCB,” says MCB Managing Partner and Co-Founder P. David Bramble. “We’ve expanded our portfolio to new heights, delivered attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors, and continued to seize opportunities that create value and strengthen the communities we serve. Our growth this year is a testament to our team’s discipline, vision, and relentless commitment to performance.”

2025 saw an aggressive and strategic approach to seeking out and capitalizing on acquisition opportunities across the nation.  In July, the firm partnered with Osiris Ventures on the purchase of the former Century 21 retail space in Brooklyn, NY, for $47.5 million with plans for a $100 million mixed-use redevelopment. Following this, in October, the 440,000-square-foot Northwoods Shopping Center in San Antonio, Texas was acquired as part of a deal with texas-based firm Epic Real Estate Partners, signaling MCB’s deliberate expansion into high-growth markets.

Building on a shared conviction in the durability of grocery-anchored retail and neighborhood centers, MCB deepened its relationship with Epic through a calculated platform acquisition, culminating in December 2025, when MCB acquired Epic Retail Partners, and its fully integrated operating platform that manages a $575 million retail portfolio across the South and Southwest, including significant holdings in Texas and high-growth states such as Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The acquisition further expanded MCB’s retail footprint and operational capabilities in high-growth markets.

“Our retail platform continues to accelerate because we’re investing where the fundamentals are strongest,” says Gina Baker Chambers. “Every acquisition is grounded in data, strategy, and a clear path to value creation. The traction we’ve built this year sets a new bar for what we expect to achieve next.”

MCB’s multifamily growth in the past year was also impressive, with several new acquisitions and developments. In June, in partnership with Abide Capital Group, MCB acquired Harlow on Main, a 120-unit Class A multifamily community in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Then in July, MCB proudly cut the ribbon on The Enolia in Baltimore, welcoming Morgan State University students to the new $58 million, 151-unit, 473-bed off-campus student housing property. The success of The Enolia was honored with two awards from Urban Land Institute (ULI) in 2025, a ULI WaveMaker Award and the ULI People’s Choice Award. These awards celebrate projects that exemplify visionary quality, a strong sense of place, and a direct response to community needs.

Closing out July, in a joint venture between MCB Real Estate, Fetner Properties, and Farallon Capital, 240 Willoughby Street, was acquired for $209.5 million. The transaction for the 463-unit luxury apartment building in Brooklyn, New York’s popular Fort Greene neighborhood equated to just over $453,000 per unit. Then in October, Greenberg Gibbons and MCB announced that The Ironwood at Waldorf Station, a Class A apartment community in Waldorf, Maryland, was officially open for leasing, offering 302 luxury residences within the 150-acre Waldorf Station master-planned development that has quickly become a bedroom community for Washington, D.C.

MCB’s success in 2025 reflects not only scale, but the firm’s ingenuity in financial structuring and disciplined capital-stack execution, capabilities that allow complex projects to advance efficiently from concept to delivery.

This approach is exemplified by MCB’s $170 million Reservoir Square development in West Baltimore, which includes a new 63,000-square-foot headquarters for the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED). The project was delivered through an innovative sale-leaseback and bond issuance structure that enabled the City to participate without direct capital outlay. MCB’s financing strategy and public-private partnership framework for Reservoir Square are detailed further in a white paper outlining the project’s structure and execution.

“Our momentum reflects the strength of our team and the disciplined way we approach every project,” says MCB President Gina Baker Chambers. “Securing capital is only part of the equation — structuring it intelligently is what unlocks real execution and allows complex developments to move forward with clarity and confidence. This work isn’t easy, but our team brings the experience and rigor needed to get it done.”

On the industrial front, MCB committed up to $25 million for its  pending redevelopment of the former Detrick & Harvey Machine Works building, to create The Machine Works, a new maker and incubator space in East Baltimore for innovative manufacturers, producers, makers and creatives. In July, Early Charm signed on as the lead tenant, leasing 4,894  square feet to expand its ceramics and nanomaterials production. Offering 34,000 square feet of industrial and 10,000 square feet of office space, The Machine Works is a transformation of a 19th-century industrial site, utilizing a collaborative partnership with ReBuild Metro to further MCB’s commitment to community investment.

The 1.53 million-square-foot Currwood Logistics Center in Hagerstown, Maryland, secured a 1.2 million-square-foot lease with online foodservice supplier The WebstaurantStore LLC. The central location of the property offers the Pennsylvania-based tenant unmatched distribution capabilities to fulfill demanding shipping needs across the U.S.

The MCB Science + Health division also continues to be a key area of growth for the firm, seeing increasing expansion in a sector that is teeming with opportunities. This division’s specialized focus on life science, medical office, and senior living assets resulted in two key milestones in 2025. First, MCB Science + Health completed construction on the Drexeline Medical Office Building, a 60,000-square-foot healthcare component of Drexeline Town Center, a mixed-use development in the Philadelphia suburb of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. The three-story medical office building is 100% leased to anchor tenants Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Delaware County Human Services.

And in November, MCB Science + Health entered into the senior living sector with the $28 million acquisition of a modern Assisted Living and Memory Care community in Florida. This high-performing, 100% private-pay property was capitalized through a partnership that aligns with broader investment objectives, eliminating exposure to Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement and underscoring MCB’s strategy to target high-quality, resilient assets.

But the growth is about more than new property and development; it is also about expanding its breadth of services, expertise, and depth in all areas of CRE. In February 2025, the firm acquired Pinkard Properties along with its 14-person professional team. Katherine Pinkard, co-founder of the firm, which managed approximately two million square-feet of office, flex, industrial, and retail space across Maryland, joined MCB as senior managing director, Property Management.

The robust and expanding focus of MCB on commercial retail remains a cornerstone of its national strategy, encompassing 40% of the firm’s total holdings. This expansion is supported by deep-seated industry insight, detailed in MCB’s white paper on the state of the US commercial retail sector, which provides an in-depth analysis with market-leading insights and data on the sector’s resilience and growth opportunities.

MCB’s aggressive expansion and commitment to new markets are perfectly timed with the addition of new leadership. In August, the firm named Daniel Taub as its Senior Managing Director, Head of Retail. Taub brings nearly 30 years of leadership in retail real estate, including overseeing $13.5 billion in transactions and leading a team of 450 brokerage professionals at Marcus & Millichap.

The MCB team was also recognized for their exceptional professional and philanthropic achievements in 2025. P. David Bramble was honored with multiple accolades, including the 2025 Anthony Overton Entrepreneur Trailblazer Award from the Presidents’ RoundTable, the Reginald F. Lewis TITAN award, and was named to the list of The Daily Record’s 100 Most Influential Marylanders. MCB Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Peter Pinkard, also won awards from The Daily Record, including being named a 2025 Influential Marylander and recipient of the paper’s  ICON Honors. Principal Drew Gorman was named a 2025 Influencer in Retail Real Estate by GlobeSt. Katherine Pinkard, senior managing director, Property Management, was selected as a winner of Connect Media’s prestigious 2025 Women in Real Estate Awards for the Washington, D.C. region. And MCB Senior Managing Director and General Counsel, Ryan Bailey, was named as a 2025 Baltimore Business Journal “40 Under 40” honoree, highlighting the firm’s robust bench of emerging leadership.

It should come as no surprise that national and CRE press has continued to contact MCB’s team to gain insight into the state of the industry. As spring began, ULI’s Urban Land Magazine shared MCB’s plans to reimagine the iconic Harborplace property and the project’s ability to unlock the city’s downtown.

In May, Commercial Observer sat down with MCB President Gina Baker Chambers to discuss the changing landscape of retail and why new shopping centers are being built closer to where people live, not where they work. Also in May, Southeast Real Estate Business asked MCB Principal Drew Gorman to share his thoughts on the retail sector’s emergence as the foundation for mixed-use developments. And at the end of the month, Commercial Property Executive spoke with both Gina and Drew to talk about the reasons behind a growing demand for grocery-anchored retail centers.

And in September, The Wall Street Journal, in a piece about Baltimore’s redevelopment renaissance, prominently featured MCB’s P. David Bramble as one of the drivers behind the city’s momentum and renewed national commercial investment.