This is like a grandfather’s tale, except I was in my 30’s. I remember I was near LAX in Los Angeles and thought I’d see what happened to an office reposition deal that I worked on back in the day, that was nearby.
The office was a company headquarters that emptied out, that then was bought by a developer JV with a LP (I was an analyst for the LP). My name was on the investment committee memo!
So, I park my rental car in the parking lot, march into the lobby. Turned out a defense contractor bought the entire building from the JV (I bet it was a home run exit). Basically, I got a “sir, what are you doing here” from security. “I worked on this deal. I have to go?” “Yeah you have to go.”
Anyways, I’m sure many of you have worked on these urban artifacts - aka buildings - and grew some attachment and then for whatever reason the building was out of your life.
In San Francisco, I always drive by one of my development deals and tell my kids, “that’s daddy’s building.” I think if we go in there, I’d get the “who the hell are you?”
That’s real estate for you. There’s a story behind almost everything.
As an appraiser, I'll sometimes get the "who the hell are you" reaction when I show up to inspect properties that I am actively working on.
Little do they know, no appraisal, no loan, there won’t be any jobs.
Normally the appraiser tells the deal team but that message doesn’t always pass on to the first person you see on-site.
I currently live in an apartment building that we built 8-9 years ago and then sold to a reit. REIT doesn’t do as good a job managing it, but it is interesting to see how some of the design elements have turned out day today after so many years. Didn’t move here till years after we sold it.
You proved your own investment thesis. Thanks for the cash flow. Congrats on the exit.
A couple of them. It's always funny seeing the changes the buyers make, but you wish them the best and hope it works out. Feels a bit like how you'd approach an ex-girlfriend - some you think back fondly on, others give you PTSD, but you hope they're getting along fine.
Yeah, PTSD. Like I’ll always associate the building to when (for example) I had to spend 5 hours working on vacation in Japan when I had a private in-room onsen (hot spring) that cost me $600/night, dealing with a missing stack of tenant estoppel agreements that they couldn’t find back at the office. Turns out we made the tenants sign new ones anyways. Face palm.
Went to visit a PBSA owned by the company I used to work for.
At the entrance I said "I'm from company_name" and they gave me a master key with full clearance to the building. Definitely recommended if you are a serial killer with solid social engineering skills.
Solid advice. Keep your old business cards too.
My MD wants us to put plaques on all of our buildings with the deal team on it, so in 5-10 years I can walk up and be like, bro, my name is on the building haha. It's such a silly thing but still pretty cool.
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