06-09-2024 HOF - Flipbook - Page 25
Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 9, 2024
DONALD MANEKIN
O
ne is a gleaming, imposing downtown skyscraper, the other a
low-slung automotive building turned food hall in Remington. But
both, in their own times and ways, transformed their surroundings:
One Charles Center sparked Baltimore’s downtown renaissance
in the 1960s, and R. House became a gathering spot in a neighborhood that has surged in recent years with new housing, retail, office
space and energy.
The through line between the two is Donald Manekin, a key part of two family businesses,
separated by a generation, that were behind the landscape-altering buildings.
He is the son of Harold Manekin, who after World War II, and with his brother Bernard,
created one of the region’s most influential commercial real estate companies: Manekin Corp.
The business was the leasing agent for One Charles Center and developer of other office buildings that revived downtown and paved the way to Harborplace and Camden Yards.
And he is the father of Thibault Manekin, with whom he co-founded Seawall Development
Co., which has multiple projects in Remington, including the Miller’s Court apartment and
office complex, as well as the renovated Lexington Market downtown.
But if his family has become known over the years for both new and renovated construction,
what Donald Manekin says they’re really building is community.
“It wasn’t necessarily about the bricks and sticks of
Name: Donald Manekin
Age: 73
Hometown: Baltimore
Current residence: Hunt Valley
Education: Boys’ Latin; Towson
University B.S.
Career highlights: Partner and
senior vice president, Manekin
Corp.; interim chief operating
officer, Baltimore City Public
Schools; co-founder, Seawall
Development Co.
Civic and charitable activities:
Served on boards of United Way
of Central Maryland, Leadership
Howard County, the Columbia
Foundation, Teach for America and
Open Society Institute-Baltimore
Family: Married to Brigitte
Manekin; four children, nine
grandchildren
the project,” Manekin said. “It was much more about
listening and engaging with the community, because
this is theirs, not ours.”
He was lunching on a recent day at R. House with
its of-the-moment offerings — think vegan, upscaled
global street food and ice cream that is both delicious
and socially conscious — but soliciting community
input in design and execution is something of a trademark of all of Seawall’s developments.
Miller’s Court, meant to help the city attract and
retain schoolteachers, who get discounted rent, has
a resource center with copiers because the educators told Seawall they liked to print out lesson plans,
Manekin said.
The Service Center,
currently under construction, will have apartments,
retail and office space, particularly for nonprofits — along
with an opportunity for residents to volunteer for such
groups. In return, Seawall
will make a donation for
every hour of labor.
“It’s a way for people to
feel responsible for something larger than their
apartments,” Manekin said.
“Remington is not only a
place to live but [to] be part
of a larger community.”
Those who know Manekin
say he walks his talk, taking
active roles in civic and philanthropic efforts, particularly those that involve
education.
“He’s just one of the most
decent human beings I’ve
ever met,” said David Hornbeck, a former state superintendent of schools. “He
engages with people, and he
values their voice and their
wisdom.”
Hornbeck, who created
Strong Schools Maryland
to support the Blueprint
for Maryland’s Future, the
ambitious 10-year education reform plan, bonded
and became friends with
Manekin over their shared
passion for the issue.
Manekin thought at one
point he might become a
teacher but instead joined
the family business in 1975
and went on to open its
HowardCountyoffice,where
it became second only to the
Rouse Co. in the amount of
commercial development.
In 2000, when he was a
partner and senior vice president, he agreed to a request
from Baltimore’s new public
schools’ CEO, Carmen V.
Russo,totemporarilybecome
chief operating officer of the
district at a time when it
was beset with financial and
management problems.
He eventually found
his way back to development when his son asked
whether he would help
start a company that would
“re-imagine” real estate
as something that united
rather than divided people,
as Thibault Manekin puts it.
“One of my dad’s greatest
qualities is he’ll never really
tell you how to do something,” the younger Manekin
said. “He leads by example.”
He describes his father
as someone who “deeply
listens to people,” which is
much how Donald Manekin
describes his own father.
“I’djustsortofsitthereand
watch him just keep himself
focused on the other person,”
Manekin said. “My father, for
as long as I can remember,
was so relationship-driven.”
If family defines him, he’s
also expanded its meaning:
Heandhiswife,Brigitte,once
took in a homeless man who
lived with their family for
about 15 years.
And he’s sought to help
those getting into development but without the advantages of being born into it
as he was. Seawall offers
mentorship and help with
accessing capital through
its Black Developer Support
Initiative.
Manekin, who tends
toward the self-effacing,
notes that there are other,
larger efforts out there, even
as he expresses pride in
Seawall’s.
“You can win a lot of baseball games,” he said, “hitting
singles.”
— Jean Marbella
25