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
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News & Awards.

TMG Partners has won awards for many projects
including honors for “Best Mixed Use,”
“Best Office,” and “Best Historic Rehabilitation”.
San Francisco Business Times
Can new California student housing bill boost affordability?
For decades, developers and universities have struggled to build student housing in California.

But after the California Legislature passed a new student housing bill (SB1227) this week, there may be help in sight.

Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) pushed the bill, which now awaits Governor Jerry Brown's signature. It would permit student housing developers to benefit from California’s density bonus law if they restrict 20 percent of the units to lower-income college students.

Under current density bonus law, developers who include affordable units in their residential projects are allowed to increase the number of housing units in their projects by up to 35 percent to cover the cost of the affordable units. Developers are also eligible for certain concessions, such as the ability to build fewer parking spaces, which can mean big cost savings.

Until now, student housing projects have not been able to take advantage of the density bonus because for potential renters to prove their eligibility for affordable units, they need to show tax returns and other documents that prove they earn 50 to 60 percent of the median income.

In other words, they need to be employed.

But, as Denise Pinkston, a partner at TMG Partners who helped draft the bill, pointed out, “Most students have no income, and there’s no way to prove that they are eligible to live in the affordable units.”

The affordable units in residential buildings near college campuses are often rented to non-students, and buildings that were intended to be used as student housing become more like typical apartments.

“Students aren’t the beneficiaries (of the affordable units),” Pinkston said.

Skinner said another problem is that the old density bonus law is based on the number of units in a project, but a dorm usually has "shared space, a kitchen, multiple beds, multiple bedrooms, not multiple units. We had to fix the definition so that the student-type housing configuration could work.”

The bill fixes the definition by allowing 100 percent student-serving housing projects to apply the density bonus based on the number of bedrooms or beds as opposed to the number of units.

It also fixes the employment loophole by allowing students to prove their eligibility for the affordable units with financial aid documents. They also must be full-time undergraduate, graduate or professional students enrolled at an accredited college or university.

The rent for the affordable units will be calculated at 30 to 65 percent of the area median income, said Pinkston.

“When we interact with students about the biggest difficulty they have staying in school, it’s the lack of housing,” Skinner said.

Universities throughout the Bay Area are struggling to build more housing. San Francisco alone is home to 30 institutions of higher education that enroll more than 80,000 full-time students with only nine schools providing about 9,000 beds.

“The Bay Area was the push behind this bill,” said Pinkston. “Every single campus and university in the Bay Area has identified student housing as the No. 1 problem they face in attracting and retaining students.”

SF State's President, Les Wong, has said that housing is his No. 1 concern. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ hopes to add 7,500 new beds for students over the next 10 years.

"We house only 22 percent of our undergraduates," Christ told the Business Times last year. "That’s just the freshmen, and housing is very expensive. So many of our students are living in places that are too expensive, too far away, too crowded. It will compromise Berkeley even in the not-so-long run if we don’t have more housing."

David Meckel, director of campus planning at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, expressed doubts in an email that housing developers will line up to do student housing even when the legislation removes roadblocks, due to the higher prices they can get for market rate housing.

However, he also acknowledged that he hasn't studied SB1227 in depth, adding, "Of course we're in favor of anything that incentivizes adding housing of any type to California and initiatives that specifically add student housing are of interest too."

Tomorrow CCA will open a new student housing building at 75 Arkansas St., which will house about 1,000 students.

Pinkston said the bill won't single-handedly fix the problem.

“There’s no affordable housing project that doesn’t have a waiting list of thousands of people,” Pinkston said, “but every university (in California) can now work this law to their advantage to get their housing to where it needs to go.”