Cobalt Property Group is the platform through which Patrick Marr has sourced, financed and executed real estate investments across the Charleston, SC MSA since 2005.
Cobalt Property Group ("Cobalt"), and its predecessor companies, was founded by Patrick Marr in 2005 when Mr. Marr relocated to Charleston, South Carolina. While commuting weekly to Washington, DC to continue his brokerage career at CB Richard Ellis, Cobalt began seeking commercial investments in the $3 million to $25 million range — a belief that opportunities existed in Charleston due to a lack of purchasers in the middle market, too large for most individual investors and too small for larger institutional capital.
During those first three years, Cobalt purchased more than $90 million of office and multifamily properties, putting Cobalt on the map in Charleston and giving rise to Cobalt Commercial Services.
Upon Mr. Marr's exit from the brokerage industry in 2013, Cobalt began pursuing ground-up development and value-add properties requiring more time and expertise, with a primary focus on Class A office buildings. As more opportunities availed themselves on the residential side, Cobalt Residential became a second division — entering the development of luxury condominiums and short-term rental properties, and eventually the ground-up development of luxury homes on the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island, SC, where Mr. Marr has lived since 2005.
Under the name Preservation Properties, another division of Cobalt developed or renovated more than 34 single-family, duplex and triplex properties in gentrifying submarkets of downtown Charleston. After six years and more than 165 bedrooms constructed, Preservation sold its portfolio for exceptional returns in 2018.
In 2020, Cobalt began an affiliation with WRS, a leading retail center developer in the Southeast United States, adding industrial to Cobalt's product mix. Mr. Marr sourced, underwrote and financed a portfolio of value-add, non-institutional industrial properties — primarily metal buildings under 25,000 SF, with below-market rents and room for expansion. After a successful four years, Mr. Marr remains a partner in WRS's industrial division while focusing more of his time on Cobalt Residential and other commercial opportunities.
Patrick Marr relocates to Charleston and founds Cobalt's predecessor company, seeking middle-market commercial investments between $3M and $25M while continuing his brokerage career at CB Richard Ellis in Washington, DC.
Cobalt purchases more than $90 million of office and multifamily properties in its first three years, establishing Cobalt Commercial Services in the Charleston market.
Preservation Properties, a Cobalt affiliate, acquires, develops and manages more than thirty duplex and triplex buildings in gentrifying downtown Charleston submarkets — assembled for $46 million and sold in 2017 for more than $62 million.
Mr. Marr exits the brokerage industry to focus full-time on ground-up development and value-add investment, expanding Cobalt Commercial into student housing, multifamily and additional office properties.
Cobalt Residential acquires a vacant historic school building on Sullivan's Island and converts it into four luxury condominiums — later honored with the 2019 South Carolina AIA award for Best Adaptive Reuse.
Cobalt begins an affiliation with WRS, a leading Southeast retail developer, entering the value-add industrial market across the Charleston region.
Cobalt Residential shifts its primary focus to the ground-up development of luxury homes on the barrier islands of Charleston — Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms — as the region's population growth accelerates residential appreciation.
Both divisions of Cobalt Property Group are operated by Patrick Marr, whose more than 40 years in real estate as a principal, investor and sponsor has positioned Cobalt for continued growth. Cobalt outsources management and leasing to trusted third-party vendors, allowing the firm to focus on sourcing investments and executing its strategy.
Patrick Marr is the Principal and Founder of Cobalt Property Group, responsible for all development and investment activities of the firm, and Broker in Charge of leasing and asset management for Cobalt's portfolio.
Prior to founding Cobalt, Mr. Marr was Principal of CMB Property Company from its founding in 2005, purchasing more than $250 million of stabilized office and multifamily properties in Washington, DC and Charleston, SC on behalf of his capital partners. Throughout this period, Mr. Marr continued a 30-year career in commercial real estate brokerage at CB Richard Ellis and Newmark Knight Frank, reaching the title of Vice Chairman at both firms. He was a consistent top producer in the Washington, DC market, transacting more than 3,200 lease transactions and $25 billion in total lease consideration — ranked in the top 10 of all Washington, DC agents by the Washington Board of Realtors for multiple years and named Broker of the Year in 2013.
Mr. Marr is also the founding partner of Preservation Property Company and Preservation Development, through which he executed the acquisition, development and lease-up of more than 30 single-family, duplex and multi-unit properties comprising 105 bedrooms. He has been in front of many of the region's key municipalities securing entitlements, and has built deep relationships across brokerage, management, financing and construction in the Charleston market.
Mr. Marr graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.S. in Finance and received an MBA from Marymount University. He currently chairs the development board at the Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing, and has resided on Sullivan's Island, SC since 2005 with his wife, Maureen.
David Stern, a Cobalt affiliate since 2016, is responsible for overall financial underwriting, structuring, and the sourcing of debt and equity for many of Cobalt's projects. Mr. Stern has thirty years of experience in commercial real estate investment and development, with a focus on complex and challenging urban infill sites, historic redevelopments, and ground leases.
With deep expertise in project underwriting and entitlement, joint venture equity arrangements, lease and contract negotiation, and asset management, Mr. Stern has worked collaboratively with Mr. Marr on numerous projects over the past twenty-five years. He has advised Verizon, Starwood Urban Investments, WeWork, and the Government of Sweden on real estate strategy and execution, and served as a Principal at ICG Properties, a development firm with offices in Washington, DC and Dubai, for the majority of his career.
Mr. Stern holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and a Master of Business Administration, both from the University of Maryland.
Reach out directly to discuss commercial, industrial or residential opportunities in the Charleston, SC market.
pmarr@cobaltpg.com