Our Past Experience 

With senior-level management experience at well-regarded firms such as Goldman, Sachs and CarrAmerica Realty Corporation, the 1788 team has helped to create and execute many successful and iconic developments, including the following:

– Acquisitions –

John Hancock Tower Nonresidential Condominiums, Chicago, IL
1.2 million square feet, $385 million

SGI/Google Headquarters Campus, Mountainview, CA  
984,000 square feet, $320 million  –  Acquired  SGI’s eight building Headquarters campus from them in 2001 in a transaction where SGI leased four of the properties back at closing.  SGI was failing so we viewed their lease as short-term cash flow to cover the acquisition loan.  We commenced lease discussions with Google for four of the properties in 2004.   Google agreed to a five year lease at SGI’s rental rate, which was 2.5x market at the time, and SGI paid the transaction costs.  We sold the four buildings Google leased to Google in 2005 and the four buildings leased to third parties to Google in 2006 at a 2.5x equity multiple.

Post Oak Central Office Complex, Houston, TX
1.3 million square feet, $123 million  –  In 1997, we purchased the Right of First Refusal to buy this 1.3 million square foot complex comprised of three skyscrapers in the Galleria Submarket of Houston, Texas.   The Right was acquired from the largest tenant in the project, Apache Corp, for $750,000 as the complex was being marketed by Eastdil.  Bids came in at $130mm, or $100PSF.  Building was offered to Apache at $123mm and we exercised our right to buy the complex.  Property still held by the buyer. 

Austin Center Complex, TX
300,000 square feet, $98 million  –  Bought a hotel and office complex that occupied a full city block in the heart of downtown Austin in an off market transaction for $98 million in 1998.  The 400 room hotel portion of the site was leased to Omni pursuant to a long-term lease and the office portion of the site was a 300,000 square foot Class A office building.  Created value by restructuring the hotel’s lease to lower Omni’s punitive and escalating fixed rent obligations by 33% in exchange for a significant portion of their operating profits.  Within six years cash flows from this portion of the investment had more than doubled.

Boston Wharf Portfolio, Boston, MA
17 bulidings, $95 million  –  In 2005, bought this 17 mill-type office buildings portfolio and 600 space freestanding gargage located in the FT Point Channel submarket of Boston, MA with a view of converting many of the buildings to residential use and reentitling the project to capture another 300,000 to 500,000 of new FAR.  The reentitlement effort was successful and many of the buildings were sold vacant for both residential and office uses as the vacant sale economics looked more compelling to us than the additional profits that could be captured by redeveloping the properties ourselves.  The garage NOI was roughly doubled prior to its sale via a combination of ingress/egress automation, electrical retrofits of the lighting and an aggressive and  focused marketing program aimed toward capturing a larger market share of daily parkers vs monthly parkers.  Project returned a 6x equity multiple when the last pieces were finally sold

– Development –

Alamo Ranch Marketplace, San Antonio, TX
900,000 square feet, $120 million  –  Anchored by Super Target, Lowes, JC Penney and Dicks Sporting Goods

National Gateway, Arlington, VA
432,000 square feet, $117 million

Nokia North American Headquarters Complex, Las Colinas, TX (Dallas)
600,000 square feet, $105 million  –  Purchased land at a prominent intersection in Las Colinas, a prominent suburb of Dallas, for CarrAmerica Realty Corporation.  Within a year, CarrAmerica signed a 15 year lease with Nokia for 600,000 square feet on this land for its North American Headquarters.  The properties were sold to Wells REIT in 2004 at a substantial profit.

1717 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.
200,430 square feet, $90 million  –  The building is located in the 1700 Block of Pennsylvania Avenue in the CBD of Washington, DC.  It was a Class B building that we acquired in 1994.  It was gutted  back to its super structure, two floors were added  and redelivered in 1996 as a speculative built Class A property.  It was largely leased to MCI/Worldcom within twelve months of its delivery and an 80% interest in the property was sold to JP Morgan.

Lincoln Park Phases 2 and 3, Herndon, VA
380,000 square feet, $85 million  –  Three buildings located at the intersection of Rt 28 and McClaren Rd in Herndon, VA.   These buildings were built speculatively  with the intention of selling the properties after leasing roughly 25% of the GLA to establish the leasing value for them.  In 2006, they were sold  to a pension fund advisor at a profit of $32mm six months after completion.

NEC North American Headquarter Complex, Irving, TX
475,000 square feet, $82 million  –  This was a build to suit for NEC pursuant to a 15 year lease at an initial rent of 10.5% of all-in cost.  Sold upon completion at a 7.25% cap rate.

Prestonwood Mall Redevelopment, Dallas, TX
475,000 square feet, $75 million  –  Bought a failed mall on 62 acres of land in north Dallas, TX for $21mm and reentitled the site for 300 townhome lots (which were sold to another developer) and developed a 475,000 SF power center anchored by a Super Wal*Mart.

Loudoun Technology Center, Dulles Airport, Ashburn, VA 
430,000 square feet, $65 million  –   We bought land adjacent to MCI’s regional network operating center and AOL’s primary enterprise data center in 2001 with a goal of establishing a third party data center market.  Buildings sold to Digital Realty in 2006 at a 40% margin above cost.

Coca Cola Drive Adaptive Redevelopment, Hanover, MD 
200,000 square feet, $35 million  –  Located on Rt 100 in Hanover, MD between I95 and the Baltimore Washington Parkway.  200,000 SF industrial building that was expanded and converted to office/industrial to take advantage of a shortage of office relative to tenant demand in the immediate area.  Building was leased to 95% within 15 months of delivery and sold to an institutional buyer generating at mid-40% IRR.