CRE Dynasties Combine Assets Into New Firm Overseeing 14M SF Portfolio
Prominent commercial properties owned by Dallas investor Ray Washburne and buildings owned by his wife, the descendant of an oil tycoon, are being rolled up into a new commercial real estate firm.
Washburne's family office, Gillon Capital, established Gillon Property Group to take over the management and operations of a portfolio of commercial real estate owned by Washburne and properties owned by the A.G. Hill Partners family office, according to a press release.
Heather Hill Washburne, Ray Washburne’s wife, and her sister, Elisa Summers, are descendants of Texas oil baron H.L. Hunt.
The new company is designed to simplify things, Gillon Property Group President and CEO Drew Steffen told Bisnow in an interview Thursday.
“The families still own everything the same way,” Steffen said. “This is really just a consolidation of operations for streamlining that the Washburnes are taking forward.”
GPG now oversees a portfolio of 81 properties in 10 states totaling 14M SF in a mix of retail, hotel, apartments, office and mixed-use assets acquired over the years by both families, including the historic Highland Park Village luxury retail center in Dallas.
Aside from Highland Park Village — the circa 1930s retail center that became the nation’s first inward-facing open-air shopping destination, according to The Real Deal — GPG's portfolio also includes Scottsdale Design District in Scottsdale, Arizona, Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Dallas retail center Knox Street.
Washburne purchased the 1M SF Country Club Plaza last July for $175M with plans to invest another $100M into the property, TRD reported.
The new firm will spearhead future acquisition and development efforts on behalf of the Washburne and Hill families as well as the Summers family interests in the portfolio.
Ray Washburne will serve as vice chairman of GPG’s governing board, with his oldest child, Hill Washburne, as executive chairman as well as president of GPG's parent company, Gillon Capital. In his role, Ray Washburne will be focused on helping GPG grow, Steffen said.
“We are taking the family trusts, and Ray is becoming more active in terms of helping us with sourcing good real estate deals,” Steffen said. “Then GPG is the one executing on all those things.”
Steffen was previously CEO for the families’ Highland Park Village Management Co. and The Village Collection.
GPG will allow the Washburne family to be more active in making and pursuing deals, while the Summers Group focuses on other matters while still leasing its core assets, Steffen said.
“We're going to really have some significant opportunities with our retail-anchored mixed-use centers that have ground-up development possibilities,” Steffen said.
Hill Washburne said in the press release that there is a need for “high-touch, longer-term operators” that drive value creation in the current commercial real estate environment. GPG wants to bring value to ownership by operating its assets better, investing in them in new ways and bringing tenants that create loyal customers, according to Steffen.
“We're not looking for a four- or five-year quick flip,” Steffen said. “We have a 50-year time horizon, and when you do that, you make very different decisions about how you invest in something.”
In April, the Dallas City Council approved the $51.7M purchase of the former Dallas Morning News headquarters building at 508 Young St. from Washburne for the city’s $3.7B overhaul and expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Washburne retained the front part of the property, where he plans to develop an entertainment district.
CORRECTION, AUG. 28, 9:06 P.M. CT: This article has been updated to correct a reference to the Hill family that should have referred to the Summers Group.
