Dealmaker of the Year: Michael Markman, president, BET Investments Inc.
Michael Markman of BET Investments.
By Natalie Kostelni – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Mar 12, 2020
In partnership with Bruce E. Toll, Michael Markman formed BET Investments Inc. in 1998. In that time and under Markman’s leadership, BET has grown to own 4,000 apartments and seven million square feet of retail and office space over 70 properties in a portfolio that is valued at $1.5 billion. It employs 200 people.
The diversified real estate company has embraced taking on large, complex projects that are leaving a mark on the region and setting a new standard for mixed-use development. For example, BET is developing the Promenade at Upper Dublin, which will have 402 apartments and 140,000 square feet of retail space and has helped spur additional investment and development in the Horsham area.
BET bought and redeveloped the Granite Run Mall, which was considered a dead retail property, into the Promenade at Granite Run that at buildout will have 400 apartments, of which 192 have been constructed, and 840,000 square feet of retail space. The project serves as a blueprint for other developers who have dying malls and want to revive them.
In Media, BET built a new apartment complex on a property that had been an old car dealership and transformed it into West End Flats with 162 apartments that quickly leased up and helped redefine a part of the Delaware County community. In Abington, the company is redeveloping a former YMCA into space for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
When not working on a new development, Markman has held several volunteer positions. He served two years as the chairman of Jewish Federation Real Estate Executive Committee and is on the board of Ursinus College, where he directs its real estate planning. He also served as an Abington Township Commissioner and member of its planning commission. Markman is currently a member of the Upper Dublin Municipal Authority for the Fort Washington Office Park.
Read the full article Philadelphia Business Journal here.