It’s the way we think 
that sets us apart.

TMG Partners has been in the business of developing award-winning, financially-successful, community-based real estate for 40 years. As much as we have accomplished over the last four decades, we believe it is the way we THINK about our region, the risks we manage, the critical timing of our projects and the value we create that sets us apart.
Localism

Real Estate is
a local business.

No, really.

The San Francisco Bay Area is an extremely diverse real estate marketplace with countless micro-business climates teeming with possibility. But you have to be here—and know here—to make the most of the opportunities all around us. Having been exclusively committed to the Bay Area for four decades, we have developed a keen local intuition which gives us a unique advantage in recognizing both the opportunities and risks in this complex market.
Regionalism

We Think 
Mega

If we try to solve our land use problems by focusing
only on the nine Bay Area counties, we will fail.

Michael CovarrubiasChairman & Co-CEO

As the Bay Area’s economy has grown over the last four decades, so too has its challenges—particularly related to transportation, housing, affordability and climate change. To plan for growth of 4 million more people in the next third of a century, TMG is thinking bigger, beyond our nine Bay Area counties, and working on longer term strategies to create greater connectivity across our entire megaregion.
Timing

It’s got to work at low tide as well as high tide.

Some of our best deals are the ones we didn’t do.

Matt FieldCo-CEO

Almost anyone can make money in a positive economic climate. But it takes discipline, depth of market knowledge and experience in all major product types to know when to buy and when to sell. The most profitable deals can be the ones you decide just don’t make sense or are outbid by an “out of town” competitor. Because we are active in our markets on a daily basis, TMG Partners has managed a portfolio through 40 years of market cycles that works in all phases and has withstood the sands of time.
Vision

huh?

Once it’s obvious, it’s too late.

Cathy GreenwoldSenior Advisor

If you wait for the statistical proof to confirm real estate opportunities, you’re looking backwards. TMG Partners has cultivated an approach to studying the business landscape that reveals market opportunities before they become obvious. Our contrarian investment strategy balances optimism and caution with the intent of turning forward-looking investments into no-brainers.
Returns

Redefining IRR

Our measure for success goes beyond profit.

Lynn TolinChief Operating Officer &
Executive Vice President

Most investment professionals have a clear understanding of IRR: Internal Rate of Return, a purely financial measurement of performance. At TMG we use a different definition. For us, IRR means balancing Integrity, Relationships and Results. We measure every aspect of our business through this lens to ensure our partners, communities, tenants and buyers are treated with the highest degree of respect and responsibility while we consistently deliver superior financial performance.
Think
Localism
Regionalism
Timing
Vision
Returns
Close

Close

 

News & Awards.

TMG Partners has won awards for many projects
including honors for “Best Mixed Use,”
“Best Office,” and “Best Historic Rehabilitation”.
In the News. Press Releases. Awards.
San Francisco Chronicle
High-rise plans teeter with economy in S.F.
by James Temple, Chronicle Staff Writer

Builders and planning groups fear that lenders are drawing conclusions from the financial meltdown that will stunt the growth of high-rise housing, even after the economy recovers.

During an industry panel discussion on Wednesday, Michael Covarrubias, chief executive officer of San Francisco development firm TMG Partners, said that he doubted he would witness another residential skyscraper built in San Francisco.

"And you'll never see two towers again," he said, referring to projects that included twin high-rises, such as The Infinity and One Rincon Hill condominiums in the SoMa neighborhood. "It's the death knell for residential development."

If his prediction is true, it would undermine assumptions in long-range planning throughout the city. Notably, the Transbay project includes - and depends on land-sale revenue from - as many as seven new skyscrapers, filled with an undetermined mix of residential and office space.

Dean Macris, a senior adviser on the plan for Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, questioned Covarrubias' assessment.

"We're in a situation where we really can't predict, once we're out of this economic climate, what kind of building types will be finance-able," he said. "I don't see any reason for us to revise our thinking."

Covarrubias made his comments during a real estate discussion at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts sponsored by the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition. In an interview, he explained that most of the residential towers erected in the city during the boom were financed by multimillion dollar loans in which banks took on 80 percent of the risk.

With those institutions foreclosing in rising numbers and swallowing steep losses, few will accept such lopsided ratios again, he said. That will boost the equity financing developers must raise from pension funds and endowments, money that comes at a higher cost.

"I don't think you'll make the numbers work again for a very long time," said Covarrubias, whose company co-developed the Soma Grand condo tower on Mission Street.

Michael Cohen, director of the mayor's office of economic development and another panelist, said he was skeptical that housing high-rises will come to a permanent halt, but acknowledged that such projects won't move ahead soon.

It's not just skyscrapers that are at risk, but mid-sized condominium projects as well, said Gabriel Metcalf, executive director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. Once developers begin construction on condos, they and their financers are on the hook for the entire structure, he said. In contrast, builders can tilt up single-family homes one at a time, drawing down their loan in increments as the market dictates.

Those realities could repel and attract, respectively, lenders in a newly conservative mood, even though the latter development pattern has come under growing scrutiny. Suburban sprawl makes inefficient use of limited land and necessitates greater reliance on greenhouse gas-emitting automobiles, environmental and planning groups argue. In recent years, many builders and lenders have begun to embrace the urban infill alternative.

"My greatest fear is that the fallout from the financial collapse will be that sprawl development becomes even more attractive," Metcalf said.