Power Leaders in Real Estate, Keith J. Delaney
Power Leaders in Real Estate
Keith j. Delaney
President & Chief Executive Officer, D2 Organization & D2 Capital Advisors
In 2014 with his fourth child on the way, Keith Delaney told his wife that he was going to leave his secure position as Chief Financial Officer at a development firm and start his own company. That company is D2 and has since blossomed into the preeminent land development organization in the Tristate area. D2 has acquired and entitled well over 1,000 acres of land that has sold for over $195 million to institutional investors. Delaney also launched a revered capital advisory group during the last 5 years that has arranged over $650 million in financing for third parties.
Those companies are D2 Organization and D2 Capital Advisors.
Delaney is a native Philadelphian and the youngest of 5 children. Born and raised in Roxborough, he attended St. Joseph’s Prep and then went on to graduate from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.
Delaney began his career at Arthur Andersen where he was a Manager in their Enterprise Group, focusing on transaction advisory and due diligence services. During that experience Delaney’s curiosity in real estate grew and by 2000 his entrepreneurial spirit led him to shift careers.
In 2000, Delaney’s experience in capital strategy, strategic planning, and partnership structuring landed him a job as Chief Financial Officer for a residential developer where he gained valuable experience in land development. In the following years, Delaney went on to successfully serve as Chief Financial Officer for three more commercial development companies.
But by 2014 Delaney had decided that there was a better way to run a development business. With a steadfast mantra of vesting every employee in the success of the company and creating a ‘work hard, play hard’ environment, Delaney was able to attract premier talent to join D2.
Always having an eye for emerging trends, his strategy was to reposition land for industrial development. D2 focused on acquiring obsolete or environmentally challenged sites and creating a development plan to bring these sites back to productive use.
In 2016, he acquired D2’s first redevelopment property, a 71-acre environmentally challenged sulfuric acid plant in Claymont, DE. Delaney worked closely with local stakeholders on legislation to revamp the Coastal Zone Act, which would make industrial sites in Delaware’s coastal zone like Claymont more economically feasible to develop. By 2017, Delaware Governor John Carney signed the bill into law at D2’s site in Claymont. D2 then secured a credit tenant ground lease for a portion of the property. The balance of the property can support over 700,000 SF of warehouse and includes a 750-foot industrial grade pier into the Delaware River.
In 2017, Delaney turned his sights to Salem County, NJ and a 280-acre former coal-fired power plant at the base of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. He believed the site would be perfect for warehouse distribution. Though many brokers had thought this site was not conducive to industrial development, D2 moved forward with the plan and entitled the site for 1,725,000 SF of warehouse distribution. In 2022 D2 sold the fully approved site to PGIM Real Estate.
D2 continued to invest in land throughout the Tristate area and has secured entitlements for over 500 residential units and 6 million square feet of logistics developments. Delaney attributes these accomplishments to the experienced development team assembled that helped execute these strategies.
Delaney, a self-proclaimed deal junkie, leveraged his CFO roots to launch D2 Capital Advisors in 2017. The boutique debt and equity placement team quickly developed a reputation for advising on complex real estate transactions.
In 2018, D2CA arranged financings for EB Realty Management that would shape the North Broad section of Philly. D2CA finalized financings for ‘The Met’ the Metropolitan Opera House, the Divine Lorraine Hotel, the Studebaker, and Mural Lofts for over $142 million in financing.
During 2021, amid the pandemic, D2CA’s three largest deals closed were an $82 million construction loan for a senior living community in Aurora, IL; a $62 million construction loan for a spec office building in Allentown, PA; and a $48.5 million construction loan for a boutique hotel in Minneapolis, MN.
Most recently, D2CA arranged a $130 million construction loan on behalf of Tishman Speyer for a life sciences development at 2300 Market Street in Center City.
While a lot of hard work, personal sacrifice and of course luck, were needed for Delaney to start and grow D2, his priority in life has always been his wife and four children. When he’s not with his family he’s likely golfing, barbecuing, watching live music, or tailgating at an Eagles game.