October 19, 2009
CT REALTY CORP. ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC PLAN FOR FUTURE GROWTH
Longtime Real Estate Veterans Join CT Realty Management Team
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. – Newport Beach, Calif.-based CT Realty Corp. has announced growth plans for the company as acquisition opportunities for institutional quality distressed real estate begin to surface. CT is expanding its senior management team as it announces plans to commence raising capital for CT California Fund VII.
According to CT Realty President Robert M. Campbell, James “Watty” Watson and Carter B. Ewing have joined CT Realty as senior-level strategists for the company in order to take advantage of emerging opportunities in commercial real estate. Watty Watson will become the new president and chief executive officer for CT Realty, while Campbell takes on the role of chairman. Campbell will maintain active day-to-day involvement with the company. U.T. “Tom” Thompson, chairman of CT Realty, will become chairman emeritus of the 15-year-old company, and Ewing will serve as executive vice president of strategic acquisitions. CT Realty’s current senior management, Marc Belluomini and Larry Mathena, will remain in their respective roles as chief operating officer and chief financial officer/chief counsel. The rest of CT Realty’s staff remains unchanged and is anticipated to increase as the company positions itself for aggressive growth.
Watson is also the chief executive officer of TechSpace, based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and will remain CEO of TechSpace along with his duties at CT as the two companies become more strategically aligned. TechSpace offers extended asset/property management services and integrated IT solutions for its 500 client companies with multiple operations in California and New York. A longtime commercial real estate executive and investor with CT Realty over the years, Watson previously served as president of Koll Development Co. where he was responsible for all commercial real estate investment and development in the western United States and Mexico. He joined Koll Development Co. after merging Santa Anita Development Co. and its operations into Koll in 1990. He has served as a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and as president of the Orange County chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, as well as serving on NAIOP’s national board of directors.
Ewing, a 20-year real estate development veteran, was most recently president and co-founder of Arnel Capital Investments (ACI), a division of Southern California-based Arnel & Affiliates. Ewing was responsible for targeting and executing ACI’s investment strategy of acquiring distressed properties through acquisition of debt or direct property investment. Prior to ACI, Ewing was the managing regional partner for Koll Development Co. in Denver. He also founded and owns Ewing Development Co. Inc. Ewing will oversee strategic acquisitions and the formation of new capital alliances in his new role with CT Realty.
“We’ve been developing plans to have senior-level strategic talent join the CT Realty management team for several years now,” Campbell said. “Adding Watty and Carter represents a strengthening of our management plan and puts us in an outstanding position to take advantage of new opportunities in commercial real estate. We believe we are entering a real estate period that is unprecedented in terms of activity, and the timing of this new strategic approach couldn’t be better.”
With the addition of Watson and Ewing, CT Realty plans to align itself with sources of institutional capital with the goal of raising $300-400 million over the next year. The company plans to continue to invest in industrial, office and multi-family properties as well as distressed debt in the same product categories, consistent with CT Realty’s lengthy history.
CT Realty also will continue its 10-year strategy of investing private capital through its series of four (4) CT Self Storage Funds and six (6) CT California Funds (commercial properties) along with institutional co-investment. Campbell said that CT Realty has capital in its CT California Fund VI remaining to be placed and will be launching its CT California Fund VII next month with the goal of raising $100 million in private capital. CT California Fund VII will invest in office, industrial, multi-family and any form of debt related to those product types, with the bulk of the investments located in Southern California.
“CT has an extraordinary performance record and an exceptional team of professionals and I’m very enthused about my involvement in CT’s growth strategy,” Watson said. “CT is perfectly positioned to provide capital and operating execution to institutional quality assets held by financial institutions and challenged ownership entities.
“Consistent with CT’s strategic investment history and our longtime friendship, I believe that our focused investment strategy towards distressed real estate opportunities will continue to produce significant returns to CT investors,” Watson said.
As a result of CT’s expanded involvement with TechSpace, CT will relocate from its Newport Beach offices to the TechSpace offices in Aliso Viejo.
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About CT Realty
Since its establishment in 1994, CT Realty Corp. (www.ctrealtycorp.com) has completed more than 160 transactions totaling more than $2 billion, which includes acquisitions, sales, development and redevelopment. In addition, the company provides development equity financing through strategic partnerships with developers primarily in Southern California. The focus of CT Realty’s investment activities is to acquire well-located assets with the potential to enhance their value through a solid, hands-on approach. CT’s focus is on industrial, suburban office and multi-family properties primarily in the purchase range of $5 million to $75 million.
About TechSpace
Founded in 1997, TechSpace (www.techspace.com) is the nation's premier full-service facilities and infrastructure provider. The company integrates world-class flexible office space, state-of-the-art technology services and business process outsourcing solutions, enabling customers to focus on their core business. In June 2002, California-based Enfrastructure acquired New York-based TechSpace. Since then, TechSpace has acquired a number of IT service companies and has hosted these businesses out of the TechSpace data center in Aliso Viejo, Calif.
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