Caringella Joins Magellan’s New Project Services Subsidiary

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Writer

Magellan Development Group, a comprehensive multifamily development company, has just tapped residential finance industry veteran Carmen Caringella to serve as director of the company’s newly established problem-solving consulting business, Magellan Project Services L.L.C.

Caringella will rely on his more than 10 years of experience to spearhead the group, having provided expertise in structuring residential mortgage financing specifically tailored to accommodate a developer’s precise needs. Caringella, a very visible member of various industry associations and a former sales manager with Prime Lending and Wachovia, possesses a background that dovetails perfectly with the goals of the new Magellan subsidiary. “Carmen is responsible for identifying and assisting organizations that may be holding or in the process of receiving distressed properties,” Brian Gordon, president of Magellan Project Services, says in a prepared statement. “Holders of such properties often face difficult choices identifying what direction to take a project, and Carmen’s role will be to help them with the decision-making process.”

Magellan Project Services is a unique firm in the multifamily world. “This new division offers all the services Magellan provides as a development company to various entities like banks and hedge funds that own paper but are not in the development businesses,” Caringella tells MHN. “A lot of these companies are holding onto assets and they don’t know what to do with them. Magellan Project Services would put together proposals of what these companies could do with their properties. We come up with scenarios and ideas; maybe it would be better to complete a condominium project and convert it into rental apartments to get some income so they’re not losing so much money every month, or maybe it would be better to sell and take the loss. There are many different options.”

And Magellan Project Services’ offerings extend beyond the provision of viable and appropriate proposals. “A client may ask, ‘If we are going to rent the units then how do we rent them?'” he notes. “Well, Magellan Development has a management company that can rent the units, and it also has a real estate company that can sell them.” Magellan Development’s group of affiliates provides a long list of services ranging from real estate brokerage to architectural, property management, legal, Internet services and commercial brokerage assistance. “We offer all the services we do as a development company every day, but we’re not asset managers; we don’t want to manage anyone’s assets.”

Magellan Project Services’ clientele is quite diverse. “I’ve spoken to bank presidents, hedge fund managers; I’ve even spoken with some politicians here in Illinois,” Caringella says. “And they are all willing to listen. We’re offering ideas for new avenues, and no project is too big or too small. Our proposals are created on a case-by-case basis.”