Click here for Part I

Taking a leading role in developing Center City’s properties and representing its people

Allan Domb the president of Allan Domb Real Estate, as well as a councilman at-large for the city of Philadelphia. Allan Domb Real Estate is one of Center City Philadelphia’s most influential developers, having brokered countless condominiums, apartments, commercial properties, and homes in the area. The company has also been involved in adapting historic buildings such as Parc Rittenhouse, the Bank Building Residences, and 220 West Washington Square into luxury condominium residences. Allan has served three terms as president of the Greater Philadelphia Association of REALTORS (GPAR), a position in which he helped the city collect hundreds of millions of dollars in delinquent taxes and liens, created new jobs, and lowered property maintenance costs. He is also an investor in and part-owner of the Starr Restaurant Organization and Starr Events, an upscale dining group and a catering and hotel group, respectively. As councilman, his priorities include increasing state revenue by collecting overdue tax payments, improving schools, finding new opportunities for business, and increasing employment options for people living in poverty. Allan has been profiled in quoted in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Businessweek, and many other prominent publications.

Allan Domb spoke with Jeff Mack of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank for this interview.

JEFF MACK: Can you tell us what you hope to accomplish first as councilman?

ALLAN DOMB: During the campaign, the Controller’s Office put out a list of $1.8 billion of delinquent taxes—not all collectible; in fact, much of it isn’t collectable. The Revenue Department has come up with about $50o–$600 million that is actually collectible of the $1.8 billion. So, my first goal is to write off legally the bad debt and stop talking about it because it doesn’t help us in the financial markets. The second goal is to work on collecting the $500 million, or $600 million. A lot of it is real estate, and real estate-related, and the good thing about real estate is it’s collateral. Most taxes don’t have that kind of collateral. Water, sewer, gas liens, and real estate do have collateral. There’s probably $400 million in that category that probably— not all of it, but maybe 60% to 70%—can be collected. And at a time when schools need money, 55% of the taxes go to the schools. The schools have a big interest in this money, and about 40% of the delinquent real estate taxes are from people who don’t live in Philadelphia.

Q. How did this situation occur?

A. The Earned Income Tax Credit is a federal program. Last year in Philadelphia, we left $100 million on the table that could have gone to 40,000 families. Let me back up for a second. Philadelphia has 1,560,000 residents, and 400,000 are in poverty; 26% of our people are in poverty. That’s terrible, by the way. One of my goals is to take 100,000 people out of poverty in the next four years; 186,000 are in deep poverty, meaning they make less than a $1,000 a month. We left $100 million on the table that could have gone to 40,000 working families who are qualified. Tax benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credits work best for families with children. For example, a single parent with $43,000 income; or married, 49, with two kids can get benefits up to $5,200 per year, although they can file back three years. That money, by the way, when it comes to the working poor, is invested in Philadelphia. They’re not going to Hawaii with that money. They’re paying off loans, they’re paying off debts, they’re buying things, they’re helping their kids with schooling. It’s going to the economy. One of my goals is to try and get as many people into that program who qualify; and one of my bigger goals is to figure out on a national level why can’t we require the IRS to merge the Earned Income Tax brackets with the returns of those people who qualify, and just send the people a check and it’s over. That’s one of the goals.

Q. What about your education plan?

You go back two and half or three years ago: the city of Philadelphia was closing 26 schools. One idea I had was to take Germantown High School, where Ralph Roberts actually graduated from, and make it a technology high school—specializing in tech, specifically in cable maybe, having Comcast be a big supporter. In the long run, we need an easier implementation for our schools, and they have to come from this perspective. In 2014, 48% of the college graduates in the United States today are in jobs that don’t require a college degree, yet they have college debt of $50,000–200,000. In 2005, college debt in the United States was $365 billion. Today, it’s $1.3 trillion and this is choking the economy and hurting people’s ability to buy properties.

So, here’s the idea: Cristo Rey—which is a great school for those people who don’t know about it, I’m just going to give them a brief commercial—Cristo Rey is unbelievable. I’m a supporter. We have students from Cristo Rey—that’s the concept, one day a week, 9th to 12th grade—everyone should work in a job. I don’t care if it’s for Urban Outfitters or if it’s as a carpenter, or a plumber, or whatever it is, but work in an environment or a law office or a real estate company or a hospital. That exposure, one day a week, one day a week, for four straight years, is tremendous for these kids and gives them social capital, where they now have experiences and they’ve met all these people. That’s what we need to do. That’s easy and we don’t have to pay them to be in internship. It’s more important sometimes than going to school.

Connect with Allan on LinkedIn

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 12,800 professionals operate from more than 370 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF’s full-service platform comprises BGC’s real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.

Jeffrey E. Mack, Executive Managing Director

Jeffrey E. Mack is a senior leader in Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Philadelphia operation. Jeff has been a significant member of the commercial brokerage community in Philadelphia since 1979. He co-founded Smith Mack & Co. in 1984 and has continued to lease and sell more suburban office space than any other individual agent. He served as past chairman of the Philadelphia Board of Realtors, commercial and industrial division. NGKF acquired Smith Mack & Co. in 2012.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

Connect on LinkedIn