About Us
Making Our
Vision Reality
In 2022, our teams entered a partnership with PIDC and the City of Philadelphia, we led the development of the revolutionary 2022 Navy Yard Plan, updating the vision for the campus and integrating every facet of the community.
We have created an Impact Strategy that includes a more than $1B commitment to DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion across employment and educational opportunities. With an opening pledge of $1M, as well as annual contributions from new development projects, we established the Building Better Foundation to support opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses that want to locate at the Navy Yard, and minority and women employees who are based here.
Our partnership may be new but many of our team members have been working on and in the Navy Yard for as long as two decades, developing and managing properties. Learn more about the plan that will carry us through the next decade and revolutionize this community.
Our Team
Brian Cohen
Managing Director
Brian Cohen
Managing Director
Brian is one of two Managing Directors responsible for Ensemble’s East Coast development and investments (in partnership with Mark Seltzer), and he is a member of the Leadership Team. Brian is passionate about creating sustainable projects that enhance lives and currently guides the planning and development at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia and other properties in the region. Prior to Ensemble, he spent 19 years in several key roles for Liberty Property Trust, most recently as Vice President and Market Officer of Liberty Property Trust’s Philadelphia office where he had P&L responsibility for a 4.5 million square foot portfolio of urban office, industrial and flex space, including the Navy Yard. Brian obtained a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Pennsylvania Real Estate Broker's License.
Mark Seltzer
Managing Director
Mark Seltzer
Managing Director
Mark is one of two Managing Directors responsible for Ensemble’s East Coast development and investments (in partnership with Brian Cohen), and he is a member of the Leadership Team. His extensive background in CRE includes 20+ years in the public and private sectors. Previously, Mark was Vice President of Leasing & Property Development for Liberty Property Trust, where he was responsible for development, leasing, and dispositions. During his tenure with Liberty, he oversaw 1.6 million SF of commercial real estate activity at the Navy Yard. He also managed the company’s relationship with the Navy Yard’s public sector development partner, PIDC, where he had served as Vice President.
Nelson Way
Vice President, Leasing & Development
Nelson Way
Vice President, Leasing & Development
Michael Ianni
Vice President, Development and Construction
Michael Ianni
Vice President, Development and Construction
Kate Vivaldo
Director, Property Management
Kate Vivaldo
Director, Property Management
Alexander Schon
Assistant Controller Navy Yard
Alexander Schon
Assistant Controller Navy Yard
Mike McColgan
Facilities Manager
Mike McColgan
Facilities Manager
Riley Balitsaris
Property Manager
Riley Balitsaris
Property Manager
Gigi Umstead
Leasing & Marketing Coordinator
Gigi Umstead
Leasing & Marketing Coordinator
Morena Wells
Office Coordinator
Morena Wells
Office Coordinator
Ensemble
Investments, LLC
Ensemble is a national real estate company with a 40-year track record of creating exceptional real estate across the United States. Ensemble develops, manages and owns transformative commercial, hospitality and multi-family projects in inspired mixed-use environments.
The company’s mission is to go beyond the deal to deliver inspiring environments and exceptional experiences for the communities it serves. It employs more than 1,100 people in a dozen markets across the country.
Our Partners
PIDC is Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation, a non-profit organization with a mission to spur investment, support business growth and foster developments that create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and drive growth across the City of Philadelphia. Within that portfolio, PIDC oversees all management and development of the Navy Yard. In 2020, at the conclusion of an exhaustive selection process, PIDC awarded Ensemble exclusive development rights for 109 acres at the Navy Yard and oversight of the development of the visionary 2022 Navy Yard Plan.
Today Ensemble and PIDC work together closely to develop and market the Navy Yard, a growing community of nearly 15,000 employees and 150 employers occupying eight million square feet across office, retail, industrial, R&D, and institutional properties. For more information about the Navy Yard, follow on Twitter @NavyYardPhila.
Oxford Properties, an $80B fund based in Toronto, Canada, is a leading global real estate investor, asset manager and business builder.
In 2022, Ensemble and Oxford entered a strategic partnership which will, over time, own and develop up to three million square feet of life science properties at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia, the first of which is 1201 Normandy Place, Ensemble’s first life science project in the Navy Yard. In the future, Oxford will look to partner in all life science projects on sites controlled by Ensemble at the Navy Yard. The agreement also includes Oxford’s investment in five existing life science assets owned by Ensemble Investments, LLC.
Basis Investment Group is a full-service commercial real estate investment platform investing across the capital stack of stabilized, transitional, and development CRE assets throughout the United States. With representation in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Tampa and Irvine, CA, Basis has successfully closed over $5 billion in transactions across multiple strategies and asset classes focusing across the US middle market.
Basis, a certified Minority and Woman-Owned Business (MWOB), focuses primarily on investments in the middle market where it has deep relationships. Basis is a registered investment advisor and lender that invests in both debt and equity strategies including fixed rate senior mortgage loans, bridge loans, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, structured equity, JV equity and B-piece investments. Basis is also the only diverse-owned and licensed Optigo® lender for Freddie Mac and the only diverse-owned DUS® lender for Fannie Mae.
Korman Communities, our partner in the development of the AVE Normandy / AVE Constitution complex, is a fully integrated, multi-generational real estate company with development, management, asset, marketing, and financial capabilities operating throughout the United States and in London.
Korman offers two brands: the “AVE” which are state-of-the-art, multi-family residential communities, and “AKA,” an urban high-rise program providing luxury, long-stay hospitality accommodations. In our region, AVE professionally manages flexible-stay residential communities featuring luxury apartments and fully furnished apartments in Greater Philadelphia Area and New Jersey, as well as in the East Bay of San Francisco, and Austin, Texas.